A Lost Guardian
by Apathy of the Abyssal Void
Summary: What does one do when confronted with things he cannot understand? Rise. Upon arrival at a school meant for girls only, this one starts a chain of events that slowly spiral out of control, descending into the Dark...Can he quell it before it can destroy him? Probably not. But trying certainly wouldn't hurt.
1. Flight

_Chapter One:_

_Flight_

* * *

_[Play Track -Deference for Darkness- Halo 3: ODST]_

_A long time ago, a woman by the name of Tabane Shinonono had proposed a new method for dealing with the dangers of space travel to the World's governments, but was either ignored or greatly ridiculed. Undaunted, she continued to press on to more secretive research, hiding herself for some time. It wasn't until later that the world would soon learn of their mistakes for rejecting the girl genius. One day, all of the governments' military bases were hacked into and launched missiles all across the globe. People began to fear that the world would end. Their despair soon ended as a mysterious flying machine soon eradicated every single missile that had posed a threat to them. It was around the time that Tabane revealed her creation, Infinite Stratos, to the world. That event became known as The White Knight Incident._

_The united governments quickly sought this brand new technology. She obliged by sending out approximately 467 IS Cores, AI devices that powered the software functions of Infinite Stratos, to the major governments. This act, among other things became part of what would be known as the IS Treaty. It detailed the importance of the safe usage of Infinite Stratos, mainly outside of armed conflicts. They would only be used in a sport-like competition and Japan would become the centerpiece that would give birth to new pilots, thus creating the IS Academy. The Academy would have the backing of the Japanese government and in turn allowed access to all of those capable of becoming an IS pilot. Therein lied a very, VERY, big problem..._

_Men were incapable of piloting the IS. This unfortunate fact left a gap in power, which was then grasped by the fairer sex of the world. This also lowered men in every other aspect, thus allowing women to become the dominant force. Those that realized this cried out how Tabane had taken her revenge against those that denied her in the past and had also set up The White Knight Incident. Women had rejoiced that they had finally got the recognition they so rightly deserved and quickly took everything they wanted from the male half._

_Thus, the world had turned upside down by a single incident. That was 10 years ago...Who's to say unusual phenomena can't happen twice?_

_[End]_

_**-Present-**_

_[Play Track – __Traverse In Trance- Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance]_

_It was a bright, if only average, day for people in the small town. However, not everyone would agree on this day, if not for- _ "OW!" I rubbed the back of my head as I look for the one responsible for ruining my inner monologue. To little surprise, I see my younger sibling glare at me before pointing at the clock above me. I look in her direction to see our little wall clock about to hit the next hour, then turn to her again to see her holding a small notebook (pen included) that read: "_You have an hour before school starts._"

I raise an eyebrow before asking, "You do realize _that_ day is coming soon, right?" She nodded once before she flipped the page to a new one and scribbled something down before showing me what she said, "_I know, but its important that you're early enough to get started before your classmates do. It's not every day that this sort of thing happens._" I sigh before replying, "True, but was it really necessary to hit me?" She gives me a pointed look before flipping another page and immediately replied, "_I know how you get when you have that look your eye. It's annoying to see you constantly talking to yourself in Third Person whenever you get bored_."

I give her an exasperated look before replying, "I honestly don't know what you're talking about, but if you insist, I'll restrain myself from doing so more often. Is that alright?" She simply replied, "_Acceptable. Now, let's get you ready for the first day of your new school._" I nodded to her before grabbing my things that I set aside before I had yet again blanked out of reality. As I turned away, I could see my younger sister give a small smile before she hurried to her room to ready herself as well. I chuckle to myself as I checked everything that was needed I had packed in my backpack. Nodding in satisfaction, I made sure to close it before hoisting one of the shoulder straps onto my left shoulder.

Now ready to go, I called out to my younger sister, "I'm about to leave without you!" As I begin to walk out of the house, I see her notebook fly right at my face. Grabbing it, I looked to see her in some casual clothes that she picked out in a hurry with a blank look on her face. I looked down at her notebook to see: "_You're impatient._" I smirked at her and asked, "How am I being impatient if you take too long?" She shook her head and snatched her notebook right out of my hand, grabbing my wrist with her other hand in the process.

She pulled me right out of the house before grabbing a key out of her pocket and locked the door behind her. She turned to me and started to walk to the nearest transportation area, which happened to be the tram station, with me catching up to her rear. Part of me was excited for what would be the greatest few years of my life, although I could do without the drawbacks...

Ah, I forgot something. You see, I moved to this town a year ago on my own and had enrolled to the nearest school for sometime until one day during a weekend, I came across someone who would end up being my little sister. She was wandering the streets with very few things attached to her, and as we traded gazes for the first time, she immediately latched onto me and insisted on coming home with me. Being the nice guy that I was, I quickly obtained guardianship over her not long after she stayed at my home.

Things hadn't been easy for me starting off, since I had stumbled upon the realization she was unable to speak. But I quickly worked around that by giving her a few notebooks and a set of pens to write. She adapted fairly well, but had some difficulties along the way. Again, it didn't long for me to realize how smart and observant she was, though her disability was a given.

Back to the present, we arrived at the station to take us to our final destination. I looked at her with a smile on my face as we stepped into the tram vehicle. She looked back with that same blank face as she always had, mirroring the motion I made. We found a quiet spot to sit down on and watched out the window with the view of the city in front of us. Oddly enough, we saw a blue haired boy in a school uniform who looked to be my age or younger, sitting right across from us. I turn to her with a questioning look and quietly asked, "_Isn't that...?_" She wrote in her notebook and said, "_Yes. It's him._" I smiled even wider before resting comfortably for the remaining amount of time we had until we reached the school.

_[End]_

_**-Sometime later-**_

"Wow, this school is quite the marvel..." I said in awe, looking from the main gate entrance towards every other building I could see at the moment. "Alright, that classroom should be around here somewhere..." I felt my arm being pulled and looked at my younger sister, who was holding her notebook up towards me with her most recent message: "_I know where to go, but first..._" She put her notebook in her pocket and raised her arms as if she wanted to reach for something. I sigh a little before lifting her up and set her on my shoulders, grabbing her legs to stabilize her position. "Well, lead the way, oh wise one."

She lightly bopped me on the head with both hands balled into fists, then pointed with her right hand in the direction she felt was the right one. I usually don't mind this sort of thing whenever we go to places together. Although I have the feeling that the students and faculty would say otherwise. As we continued our trek, we hear a voice call out to us from behind, "What do you think you're doing wandering around the campus like that?" I glance at my sister for a second, with her looking back and nodding in silent agreement.

I turn us around to give the person, now woman, the blankest stares possible, with me responding in a monotone voice, "We are trying to find the classroom I was assigned to. As for her...I'm required to have her accompany me for today. I spoke with the principal a week ago on that matter." The woman frowned slightly before nodding and asking, "Do you know who your teacher is?" I shrugged slightly without disturbing my sister's position and said, "I believe that it's..." I trailed off and my sister took that as her cue to search in one of her previous pages to show me two names written down under the word Teachers.

"Ah, here we go. Maya Yamada and Chifuyu Orimura...Would you happen to know either of them, ma'am?" I looked back at the woman as I had asked her. She gave a wry grin as she replied, "I'm familiar with both of them." I reply in earnest, "Excellent. I thank you for this brief conversation, but we need to find the classroom they're in. Now my cute mute sister, onwards!" She slapped my head with her notebook before pointing back at the intended direction we had originally headed towards.

_**-Third Person POV-**_

Unbeknownst to the boy that continued to run, the younger sister was looking back at the woman that spoke to them not too long ago, she scribbled something down and dropped it before smacking her brother on the head, guiding him towards his classroom. The woman that was left behind reached down and grabbed the paper the young girl had dropped with a simple message: "_It would have been easier to tell him who you were, Chifuyu Orimura_..." She crumpled the paper and muttered, "What a strange pair of kids." The girl knew, yet chose not to say anything at the time. _Maybe she wanted to have her brother surprised. __I'll need to keep an eye on her __for__awhile__,_ was her final thought as she watched the pair heading off to the same place she was heading to.

_**-1st Person POV-**_

I had arrived at the right building and was currently searching for the classroom by looking at the signs posted over the doors. Finding the right room, I looked at my younger sister and said, "End of the road, kiddo." She nodded and I knelt down to the ground to allow her to move off of me. She got off of my shoulders and moved to my side as I stood back to full height without having my sister riding on me. I knocked on the door gently three times with my sibling doing the same right after. I held my right hand out for her to grab, to which she complied without hesitation.

We hear some noises on the other side before the door slid open to reveal a young-looking woman with green hair, small glasses, a yellow sweater and some pink...thing inside of the sweater. She spoke with a slight cheer, "Ah, you must be the new transfer student the principal spoke of. One moment please." I give a slight nod, with my sibling copying my gesture at the same time. She retreated back into the classroom to inform her students, though I could hear her speaking to the class regarding my arrival. It looks like I ended up being late for class today. Not a problem, it just means I have to introduce myself in front of the whole class. After being signaled to enter, I walk into the room with my sister in tow, ignoring the hushed whispers that were silenced as I faced the class...which comprised of mostly females...Actually, there's one other boy here.

Which means I have _him_ as a classmate. Ah well, might as well introduce ourselves. "Hello, my name is Arthur Hackett." I spoke kindly to the class before gesturing to my younger sister, "And this young lady is-hm?" I look down to my side, only to notice her hiding behind my legs, giving a chilling stare at the class, somehow making a noise that sounded like '_chii_~'. I sigh and said, "You know that won't work, right?" she shook her head and showed me her notebook, which read: "_I don't like __those girls__...they smell like THEM_." "You mean?" I ask, to which she nods and continues to make the same stare at the class. The class, teacher included, gave looks varied of vexation, confusion and...I swear I thought I saw a sweat drop from one of them.

"_Anyway_, this young lady is Alisa Hackett, my little sister. Due to certain circumstances, she's to be accompanying me for the day. And with that, I hope to work with you all." I give a courteous bow for a brief moment before facing the class once more. I felt a tug on my leg and saw my sister with earmuffs on her head, handing me a pair she somehow managed to get a hold of, I grabbed them and placed them around my head rather snugly.

All of which, took place in the short span of a few seconds. Afterward, I hear muffled screaming coming from most of the generic students I probably won't bother to remember. After a little while, the door slammed open, causing most of the class (my sister and I included) to look at the source of the disturbance. I gave a look of slight surprise, recognizing the woman who I spoke to earlier today. I looked down at my sister, who glanced at me before scribbling something down in her notebook.

Alisa then showed the notebook to the woman, making sure I didn't see it, which said, "_Hello again, Orimura-sensei_." I saw her give a curious glance at her before she looked at me and asked, "Is there a reason she isn't talking?" I removed the earmuffs and gave her an apologetic smile then replied, "That's how she normally communicates ever since I've known her, ma'am. She's a mute." She nods and replies, "Alright, make sure she stays with you at all times. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am." I reply crisply, wanting to stay on this woman's good side. I was about to ask her about my assigned seat, when the only other male spoke out in surprise, my introduction notwithstanding, saying something along the lines of 'Chifuyu-nee'. After that, she smacked him on the head and told him to refer to her as Orimura-sensei. I look at Alisa, silently asking '_You knew_?' She nodded and scrawled another message that read, "_I felt that it wasn't necessary to inform you. Besides, you found out anyway_."

I nodded in acceptance as I heard the two teachers converse briefly, though I was able to confirm that the green haired one was Maya Yamada alongside the other teacher being none other than the famous, or infamous, Chifuyu Orimura. She then introduced herself as the class' teacher for the amount of time we'd be here. An odd silence ensued before I felt a wash of dread pour over me. Quickly reapplying the earmuffs, I managed to avoid the second wave of squeals and shouts. I looked at the new found target of the girls' excitement, with a few exceptions. She didn't appear to be very pleased by the reactions of the majority of the class. I couldn't blame her for having to deal with potentially insane fan girls.

Afterward, things settled down as the teachers started to go over what subjects that we were required to learn. Due to my untimely arrival, I was exempted from introductions that had meant to be done at that time. I took note of the ones known as Houki and Ichika. Mostly because they were related to two very well-known people. One which just so happens to be in the room right now. Though I can't say whether that's awesome or downright terrifying. By the time they let us go for our first break, I took Alisa out of the class quickly in order to avoid speaking to the other students.

_**-On the Roof-**_

I gazed out to the grand expanse of the city that laid out before me, with Alisa resting on my back, having been quite active during the morning. I hear the roof entrance open and turned my head slightly to see two students walking over to the side of the roof opposite of me. Recognizing them as the two students I made note of earlier, I walk over to them as they talked unaware of my approach. I coughed slightly to get their attention, although I ended up startling them. I saw the girl about to get angry at me for being startled, but stopped when she saw my younger sibling resting her head next to mine.

"Sorry to interrupt, I thought since you were up here, I'd take the chance to speak to both of you directly without distractions." I said, smiling a little at them, though the girl did relax a bit. The boy decided to speak first, "Not at all, I didn't know anyone else was here when Houki and I got here." Understandable. Ichika seemed like an okay person, though the girl kept looking at us with a serious frown on her face. I wonder if it had to do with the fact I had Alisa with me...

"-ol before here?" Oh, I hadn't noticed he had said something to me. I must've been bothered by that serious girl's expression directed at us. "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" "I asked which school you went to before here." Ah, that one. I smiled and replied, "Well, I actually went to a regular school not far from this one. As you can see, it didn't last when they found out I could pilot an IS. I was rather surprised, since I had rarely paid attention to the news and I had no knowledge of the whole IS business until recently." I chuckle at their gobsmacked faces at my bold statement, though I opted to continue, "Ever since then, I've been trying to learn as much as I could about the Infinite Stratos. I blame curiosity for that."

"That's quite a story Hackett-san." Ichika commented, with Houki now joining the conversation by interjecting, "Hey, what does your sister have to do with you being here anyway?" I shake my head and replied, "I think that's enough for now. All I can say is that it's important for her to stay with me." Before she could retort, the bell begins to ring, signaling for us to return to class. "Time to go. Perhaps, we'll talk during lunch?" I offered to the pair, to which each responded, "Sure." "Fine."

Good, it'll be nice to hang out with these two at that time. I just hope that Ichika doesn't end up getting himself stuck in a difficult situation.

_**-Later, In class-**_

Maya took her turn to teach the class and not long after, Ichika had trouble following the material. Somehow I suspected that he didn't read the manual prior to arriving at the school. My suspicion was proven correct when I saw Chifuyu berate Ichika for not doing what he was supposed to do, especially when he admitted he threw away the manual. Deciding to spare him from further torture from his sister, I said, "I can lend him mine, Orimura-sensei. I've read it well enough to follow along in class. And Ichika," he gave me a look of gratefulness as I continued, "be sure to return it when you're done. I don't want anything bad happening to it. Alright?" He nodded frantically as I handed him my copy of the manual.

Whispers began to spread amongst the female students as I smiled at him before I nodded to his elder sibling. She gave me an appraising look and said, "While it is generous of you to lend your manual to your fellow classmate, I don't want a repeat of this in the future. Am I understood gentlemen?" With a sharp nod, we replied without delay and we continued our lesson from there. Though I refrained from chuckling when he replied incorrectly, and subsequently received a _minor_ physical punishment via smack to the head.

_**-Break-**_

I leaned back in my chair with my sister sitting next to me, doodling away while keeping an eye out for THEM. Meanwhile, Ichika sat miserably, most likely suffering from a mental strain from having to absorb the information. Though I suppose one reason could be that he isn't a bookish type. I smile to myself as I close my eyes and my thoughts slowly went adrift until...

"HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE HEARD OF ME!?"

"What the!?" I shot up in surprise, looking to see a blond girl with an unusual hairstyle, staring angrily at Ichika. I turned to Alisa, who actually raised an eyebrow at the blond's appearance and wrote a message to me: "_Her hair is weird...I don't like it. Too impractical._" I decided to humor her and reply, "_Specifics?" _ "_The fact that they look like corkscrews is enough for me._" Ah, right. They _do_ look like corkscrews, which is pretty silly for a hairstyle.

Seriously, who would want to have their hair turned into a pair of corkscrews? I shook my at the notion of such things. I figured I'd wait to see how this'll play out. So far the current classmates in the room seemed to have similar expressions as well. The girl went by the name of Cecilia Alcott, the British Representative Cadet..._Or was it Candidate?_ I gave a small sigh and thought, _So she's one of those, huh? Fantastic. Her attitude needs a fixin'._ _Still, she could be worse, __she could actually like __Ichika__ and still act like she is right now._

From what I managed to gather, she's a well trained pilot and had managed to defeat an instructor. I was somewhat unsurprised, since it was more of a display of skill and a handicap placed on an instructor. Besides, I figure it would be better to take on an instructor full on than anything else. Though I did find it funny that Ichika had successfully defeated an instructor by dodging her and she crashed into the wall. I, on the other hand... won on a technicality.

While I had mostly took the time to adjust to the usage of a standard issue IS, the instructor did the best she could within restricted limits to take me down. I had simply outsmarted her and made her waste ammunition while carefully knocking down her shield points. Sad to say, luck saved my ass when I pulled a near-suicidal stunt to take her down and almost got myself kicked out for that. If I hadn't done that, I would've definitely lost.

I didn't want to mention my fight because I knew it would rile her up and get myself involved in Ichika's mess. Luckily, she ended up leaving him alone but wanted to continue the matter later. I chuckle a bit as she left and spoke to him, "Not very good at dealing with people of her type, are you?" He looked at me wearily and answered, "How could you tell?"

I shrugged and said, "Simple, she's a proud person. She may have made a few accomplishments in her life but due to the way the world is, she believes herself without peer. Meaning she has no one to test her skills against as a rival and such. Though with that pride comes arrogance. I think the only way to see that her beliefs are incorrect is to challenge those very ideals and crush them so she may start anew." _Though I get the feeling he's gonna do that and more._ I thought with a smile.

He looks at me in surprise and asks, "What makes you think that?" I lean a bit against the desk behind me, arms crossed and responded, "Familial relations aside, I have the distinct feeling you'll be able to do great and wondrous things here in the academy. All you need to do is find a reason to fight, not just in IS battles, but through life in general." A pensive look crosses his face as he contemplates my response.

I sigh a little and said, "Look Ichika, I may be as new to this situation as you are, but trust me when I say this: There's gonna be times where we have to fight outside of this place, outside the government's protection. The better pilot you become now, the better you can be able to do what you want to do the most. So this is my question to you. You don't have to answer right away but remember to give it when the time comes. What I want to know is..."

_**-****Later at ****Lunch-**_

I sat at a table in the cafeteria along with Alisa, Houki, and Ichika, eating our meals in silence. I glance at Ichika, who seemed to be lost in thought, but would glance at my sister and I at random moments before shifting his focus back onto his food. Houki hadn't heard what we discussed earlier and was bemused by her childhood friend's silence. She too would glance at me, almost accusingly, while eating. Alisa silently watched while scarfing down her food with gusto. Being the first to finish, she pulled out a book and read to herself.

Part of me began to wonder if either of my classmates would actually initiate a conversation, or because of my presence that made them like this. Though I probably made things worse when I got volunteered by my sister, the little witch (_Ow!_), to take part in what was originally a duel between Ichika and Cecilia to become the Class Representative. Now that it's become a three-way fight, it was obvious that neither of them would want to talk to me despite my initial offerings.

"Guys, if you're that uncomfortable talking to me, you don't have to stay here. I don't mind it at all. Besides, I _am_ your opponent in the upcoming match to be Class Rep, Ichika." They looked at me in surprise, Houki quicker to respond, "That's true, maybe we should go Ichika." Ichika turned to Houki in bewilderment and asked, "Why would I do that?" She glared at him in response, "So you're gonna stay here?" "Just because we're opponents doesn't mean we can't hang out together." he retorted, making me blink a bit and look between them in wonder.

"Well as fun as this is, I propose an idea. Ichika, you haven't had any practice with an IS, right?" he nods and responds, "Yeah, I haven't. Not to mention I won't be getting my Personal IS for some time." I shrugged and said, "It happens, but I think you'll get yours when our match comes closer in the coming days, if not on the day itself. What I'm suggesting is that Houki practices with you using the available IS the school has. If they can't lend an IS or two, try and find some other method of training."

Houki looks at me in shock, while Ichika nods with a happy look on his face. Houki angrily responds, "Why would I even help him anyway?" I respond with, "Why not?" Her confused reply, "Huh?" I continue, "Why not help him? Its better to receive help from someone he's familiar with than with someone he doesn't know. Besides, you guys can spend time together and neither of you have seen each other in quite awhile from what I heard."

Houki remained silent, looking away blushing lightly, then Ichika decides to respond, "Are you sure that it's a good idea? How are you gonna get ready for it?" I put up a thinking pose for a moment and said, "Well, I'm mostly guessing on this, but as I know an IS specializes in Long Range, Mid Range, Short Range or any combination of the three. Thing is, I don't know whether Cecilia's IS goes Long Range, Mid Range, or both because I highly doubt she's one to get up close and personal with her targets. If that was the case, it would leave her weak in the Close Range department. The only other problem is if she had any other hidden weapons or a One-Off Ability. Either way, it's gonna be hard for me to know for sure until then."

The pair looked astonished at me for a moment, with Ichika asking, "What's a One-Off Ability?" I glance at him and said, "Basically, it's a unique ability that can be used by Personal IS pilots for only when they have full syncrocity, though there are different effects that a One-Off would have. It varies between PISes, so I could be wrong if there was an OOA that didn't require something like an immense shield drain from the pilot's own IS. Though the only One-Off Ability I know of is..." I shake my head and continued, "At any rate, I wouldn't worry too much about that. However, if your IS does have an OOA, be sure to use it only at key critical moments. Other than that, avoid using it as much as possible. That's all I can say on it until we know more after this battle." Ichika nodded and sighed a little in disappointment.

Houki was absorbing the information with rapt attention. She asked, "Even with the advice you're giving Ichika, how are you gonna fight despite helping him?" I shrugged my shoulders and said, "To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do on my side. While I know a few key strategies to beat her, Ichika's an unknown. I'm gonna be going in blind not knowing his future IS' capabilities. Not to mention the fact that I could very well lose outright to him if either of us beat Cecilia. Besides, I was never interested in being a Class Representative, so it won't be a big deal to me if I lose."

"How could you not be interested in being the Class Rep? I thought with what you knew, you'd jump at the chance to fight in more IS battles to gain experience as a pilot." She replied in confusion. I reply calmly, "Be that as it may, my involvement is to prove a point, something no one, not even myself, will understand right now. I know it sounds stupid, but you'll understand when it happens. And I promise you, it won't be pleasant."

"What is that supposed to mean, Arthur?" Ichika asks me, perturbed by my statement. I smiled grimly and reply, "It's like Houki says, we're opponents and while I'm not adverse to us hanging out together, I'd rather not have everyone else assuming anything. So from here on out, we're enemies. No matter what, don't hold back against either me or her." I get up from the table with my empty tray, Alisa following behind me, we make our way out of the kitchen.

I avoided looking at anyone else as we leave, unnoticed as they continued to watch Ichika and Houki sit in stunned silence.

_**-That Night-**_

Yamada-sensei led us to our new room, which I heard ended up next to Ichika's room. "Let me know if you two need anything, okay?" she asked, and we nodded as she left. Looking back at the door, I reach for it, but Alisa's hand snapped out to stop me from doing so. With a questioning gesture, I motion to the door, and she wrote, "_I'll go first, there could be a girl in there. I don't want an awkward situation occurring tonight._" I nodded, backing up a little to allow her to enter, but remained close by to ensure her safety. She opened the door carefully, making sure to remain quiet, and entered the room. I close the door behind her silently, making sure to avoid any unnecessary noises from escaping.

I quietly stand next to the door, ear pressed against it to listen for anything that's happening on the inside. After a few minutes a set of noises came from the other side: three quiet knocks, two taps, and another knock. _Ah, that's the signal that it's safe._ I thought, turning the door handle and opening the door to reveal a rather plain looking room. So far so good, I look around to see two empty beds, a glass door leading to the exterior of the building, a bathroom, and a desk. "Well, this looks great. I'll go ahead and unpack everything. Feel free to let me know what you want for dinner after I'm done." I said, with her nodding once before moving to the nearest bed and hopping onto it.

I brought my backpack and pulled out a set of books and a pair of black steel cases. The smaller contained a gift from a mysterious benefactor after I had been told to attend IS Academy, while the larger contained a high-end laptop computer that had been built specifically for the contents from the smaller box. I set the books at the far left end of the desk, along with the large case. I set the small case in front of me, with the longer side facing me. I lift the topside open slowly, careful as to avoid any potential damage.

As I opened it, I smile as I stared at the contents, which contained a pennant in the shape of a wing colored in white with a silver lining with a small note right next to it. '_Be sure to take good care of him. I expect great results from you Artie!_' I read the note carefully and glanced at what happened to be a rabbit next to the message, or at least I think it was a rabbit. _Who was that person anyway? There's no way it could be from the genius Tabane. Besides, I'm just some nobody that happened to be fortunate enough to pilot an IS._ I thought to myself, looking back at the pennant. I pull it out of the case and set it in front of me, pushing the case aside.

Bringing the larger case closer, I open it to see the laptop remaining the same way it did back when I first saw it. Making sure the top part of the case was open all the way, I lift it out of the case, holding it steadily. I set the laptop at its intended area then moved the case onto my bed. I open the laptop slightly past the 90 degree position and promptly activated it. I grabbed a nearby cord, attaching both ends to the pennant and the laptop after it had finished booting.

In the span of ten minutes, I had prepared a small meal for Alisa, consisting of a mix between beef stir fry and some broiled ramen noodles I had brought from those small cups. Once I had made sure she was eating her dinner, I sat back down at the desk, with the IS and laptop fully activated that was displaying numerous bits of information. So far I've yet to see any key specific info I wanted to find.

Suddenly, a small windowed message comes up that said, "_Please insert password before attempting further access._" Eyebrow raised in interest, I see a new window that appeared with an empty slot for the desired password. A section that the word 'hint' in all caps that had a message that read:'_The answer is a lot easier than you think. __All you have to do is jump down the hole.__'_ I mentally groaned as I saw yet another rabbit sitting nearby looking cute staring at me.

_'The answer is easier than you think. All you have to do is jump down the hole'. With a rabbit sitting near it, I'd have to assume this person likes rabbits of all kinds, or something in relation to rabbits. Hm, what could be an answer so simple for me to not realize? I _do_ have that tendency to over think things, so go for the simplicity. Well, the first message had that rabbit drawing next to the message and this message is no different._

_What's strange is that person called me Artie as some kind of childish nickname. Perhaps that's how the person identifies him/herself as. At the same time, the rabbit could be a motif or have some kind of cultural reference. I doubt that either case would do well on their own, so that must mean together they have a specific reference, like a name someone could recognize. Together with the childlike nickname and a cultural reference to rabbits...I'd have to say the person is obviously childlike in mannerisms, but has to have great intelligence to send me an IS in standby mode before I could even properly activate its First Shift. It's possible this person had this specifically built for me and made sure I could use it without having to go through the hassle of activating-Wait, that second part!_

I turn to Alisa and asked her, "Is there anything you might know regarding rabbit holes?" She nodded and held up her notebook that read, "_I overheard what you were talking about, so I came to the conclusion that she was referring to an old story you based my name on._" Of course! That made so much more sense now. I nodded appreciatively at her and began to type the password in. A-l-i-c-e. There, it worked! A new message came up as I had did mental victory cheer, giving me a slight pause as I read it: '_Establishing connection..._'

I sat there cautiously as the window vanished, replaced by a new window that covered the whole screen. At the center, there was a miniature carrot was surrounded by a circle of dots that would rotate around it, like it was a loading screen. I scratched the side of my head at the strangeness this situation was causing. The carrot and dots vanished, replaced by an image of a really unusual place, like it was a laboratory, but it didn't look like any lab I've heard nor seen of. Though that didn't help prepare me for the _real_ surprise that would come up.

_[Play Track -Kigen No Yoi Hakase- Nichijou]_

_HI HI!_ A woman seemingly popped up from the bottom the screen shouted at me, though I was quick enough to lower the volume to avoid suspicion. I take in the woman's...interesting appearance. From what I can see, she has a unique set of casual clothes, mostly comprising of various shades of purple and lavender. That wasn't as much of a surprise, considering she had similar colored mechanical rabbit ears on the top of her head. I tilt my head to the left, trying to ascertain the absurdity of her choice of headdress.

The only normal thing about her was her hair, but that's all there was to be considered normal about her. I reply, "Do I know you, miss?" She cried out, _Wah! Artie's so mean! How could you not recognize me!?_ I reply in a completely deadpan tone, "Perhaps it's because I'm so used to dealing with oddities that I often forget how incredibly weird they are. Not to mention, you have an odd obsession with rabbits, while it shows a little differently, it doesn't exactly strike me as to be considered noteworthy."

She sniffed as she looked away mumbling,_ So mean..._ I sigh and said to her, "Look, I'm sorry if what I said offends you. I've had a long first day here and you haven't exactly helped by acting all cryptic towards me so far. Maybe if you could tell me who you are, it would make things better. A little, but not much."

She lets out a giggle before letting a small smile slip onto her face, replying while shaking her head, _Nope, since you can't recognize me, you'll have to guess my name instead. _I stared hard at her before relenting and said, "We'll do it your way then. I guess since I don't know your name, I'll call you Alice. Besides, it's a fair replacement. Oh, is there any reason why you call me Artie?" She giggled again and replied, _I usually call people I know really well by their nicknames._

I felt oddly uncomfortable at that and said, "How can you possibly know so much about me when I barely know you? Are these other people special to you if that was the reason? If that's the real reason...What am I to you?" She simply smiled and said,_ Well...there's lots of reasons I know so much about you. Let's just say your presence had affected things a lot more than you realize. When I found out what happened to a boy that survived an incident ten years ago, I had just announced the birth of Infinite Stratos. At first it was because of a certain someone that wanted to get as much information as he could on Infinite Stratos. So I figured, why not give him what he wanted. So I did. Then came the newly adopted sister, I was really really surprised at his generosity and willingness to help her out despite the fact he lived alone._

_It wouldn't be long until that boy came to the academy with his own untested personal IS that I gave him. I hadn't given the little guy a name yet, so I wanted you to name him. Don't force the name onto the IS if the name feels out of place. Let it come to you and he'll accept it, I guarantee it. As for the last question..._ she giggled again before vanishing, having the window closed and replaced by a new window that displayed a 3-D image of my IS from different angles along with a small box that had been titled Arsenal. I expanded the box to show the entire list and was greatly surprised, but was ultimately satisfied with the selection provided for me.

_[End]_

_Alice, or whatever real name you have, I may not know how you managed to do all of this, but I thank you. Truly, you have given me the greatest of tools to help guide me down the path that I set myself for the moment I began to conceptualize and establish it. With this, I may find that place I've been searching for. It may not be today, but I know now it does exist. My one true..._

My train of thought crashed when I heard loud noises coming from the room next to me that led to the hall. I quietly open the door to see Ichika slamming his door shut and sat down. I was about to ask him what happened when I saw a brown blur burst through the door, nearly piercing Ichika's head. I was really shocked that someone was trying to kill him, so I grabbed him away from the door and dragged him into our room, closing it just in time for the assailant to slam the door open.

I kept Ichika hidden in the bathroom, trying to calm him down when I heard a heavy knock on the door. Bringing my hand up into the shushing position, I signaled for him to stay in the bathroom. I heard the door knock louder as I got closer to it. I carefully poked my head out the door to see Houki in her nightwear standing in front of the door with what looked like a wooden sword in her hand. She looked at me in slight surprise and said, "I didn't know this was your room. I thought Ichika was the only guy to share a room."

I smile lightly and replied, "As it turned out, the last person that used to be here had transferred to another room, so my sister and I were assigned to it." She felt somewhat off-put by the idea Alisa and I were sharing the room. Honestly, we have separate beds, there's no way we would ever share one. Last time we did, I got a fist to the stomach while she ended up laying on the floor clutching her abdomen from an ill-timed kick. It was a terrible experience we wanted to avoid repeating at all costs.

"So did you need something?" I asked, though I knew what she wanted to ask me. "Yeah, have you seen Ichika? He did something stupid." she replied, though I wasn't surprised that she went to such lengths to harm Ichika if he did something he probably shouldn't have. "Can't say I have Houki. I was a little preoccupied at the time, with the exception of the commotion you two were causing. Seriously, was it that bad to warrant such an overreaction? No wait, I probably just answered my own question. At any rate, if I see him, I'll be sure to talk him and let him know you wanted to find him." she nodded before closing the door to her room. I give a loud sigh and went into the bathroom, letting Ichika out of there for more breathing room.

"Mind telling me why I had to drag your sorry ass into our bathroom to avoid Houki from possibly killing you?" I asked rather bluntly, though it was mostly because I wanted to get back to what I was doing. Ichika had complied well enough, having said that he got into the room, not realizing that he ended up sharing the room with Houki. Certain things had happen, which he didn't want to repeat. I understood gist of it from that point. "Okay then, now that's cleared up, I have something to say about that. You are a perversity magnet." "A WH-!?" I covered his mouth to stop him from screaming and setting himself up for future suffering.

I gave him a pointed look to calm down or else I'd make sure he would. He relaxed a bit as I continued, "Yes, as annoying as it is for me to say, you'll end up saying or doing things others would possibly find inappropriate. While your intentions are pure, you seriously lack in situational awareness. Meaning, you have no clue what goes on around you. Thus, you consistently find yourself caught in those kind of awkward moments which most girls will get offended and retaliate one way or another. Houki is an excellent example, she retaliated in the most appropriate manner _she_ believed was in the right. However, that doesn't mean it always be that way.

"It's possible she or any other girl could react violently towards you if jealousy is involved as well, which is equally bad for you. It's definitely within the realm of possibility that if a male had multiple love interests all vying for him, there is also a very high chance that each girl will get incredibly jealous if one girl spends more time with him than the others. Unfortunately for you, this may be the case down the road whether you know it or not. What's worse is that you're among the type that's really dumb about noticing what a girl feels towards you regardless of how you were raised. You could be the strongest man in the world and still be dumb as a rock when it comes to love.

"What could ultimately boil down to is that A: you pick a girl that you feel you'd want to be with for the rest of your life. B: You choose none of them because there's someone else that you've had romantic feelings for or C: You decide to choose all of them at once. To be honest, any of the choices will be incredibly hard for you as you have no clue about love. But now that I've told you...I very well could have made things worse whether by implication or outright admittance.

"That's up to you to decide as well. That's the second thing I've told where _your_ decision is the most important. Not your sister's decision. Not Houki's. No one else but your own. Wow, I can't believe I've been actually _lecturing_ you on all of this. That's gotta be unfair for me to force all of this crap onto you, though I guess it's because you're the type guy I can't help but want to help out since no one else would. Or some nonsense like that. Though part of me wants to say that since you're such an idiot, everything has to be hammered into your head for you to get it."

I start to laugh when I saw Ichika grumble a little for that jab. Granted, it's not his _entire_ fault that he's an idiot. Though I'm starting to wonder if his sister might have to do with the fact that his possible perception of girls was flawed. That would have to mean his perception was flawed from the get-go. Oh well, it's all about the baby steps. I've probably said what was needed. "Alright, time for you to leave. I've got things to do and I can't have you stay here."

With that, I haul him to his feet and showed him out of the room, though I made sure he didn't see what I was doing. I'm gonna find a better way to deal with this sort of situation from now on. I understood that Ichika was never the brightest with that particular subject, so I made the decision to lessen the difficulties he'd most likely encounter, but at the same time I had the feeling that I needed to avoid doing so for some time. It didn't hurt that his sister happened to be right behind me as I bid Ichika farewell. I couldn't have been any more afraid than I was at that moment. "Oh, g-good evening, sensei." I said with a slight stutter.

She stared down at me with her usual serious glare, though the fact that she was patrolling the hallway made things less than exciting for me. "I heard there was an incident in this hallway, mostly centered around these two rooms earlier. Care to explain?" She demanded, or that's what it sounded like to me at least. I bring one of my hands up to face, slightly cupping the chin, displaying one of my _many_ thinking poses. I gave a small 'hm' and replied, "Well, what I know was that a simple misunderstanding had occurred between Miss Shinonono and Mr. Orimura. After I heard Mr. Orimura's side of the story, I basically told him to be more aware of what he says and does, mostly due to the fact we are the only males attending the school. When I finished speaking to him, I helped him back to his room and that's all."

She nodded and replied, "Okay then. It's good to see you looking out for him, whether or not he needs it is another matter entirely. I don't want any further disruptions in my dorms, is that understood Hackett?" "I understand ma'am." I spoke softly before heading back to my room. "By the way, has there been any decision regarding the housing for your sibling? Since she isn't a student, she won't be able to stay for much longer after tonight."

I shook my head negatively, to which she let out a long sigh. "The problem is that I'm technically her guardian, since I had go through the legal process to obtain that right. Now that I'm here, it seems that I'll have no choice to either leave or I have to find someone I can trust to watch her if I'm to stay here as a resident for the amount of time I am here. Unfortunately for me, that's few and far between. Everything that I've told you is what I told the principal, and yet the principal is hesitant deciding on the necessary course of action."

She brought her hand to her head in annoyance while saying, "This is why I hate dealing with troublesome students. Can't anyone be normal for once?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to point out the fact that this whole IS thing was normal either. The probable reason being my sense of self-preservation was keeping my brain and tongue in check. "I'm not sure if that would solve anything sensei..." I replied, though I made sure to stay quiet after her curious stare was brought on me.

"Well, if there is nothing else, you're free to go." she said, and I nodded to her silently, wanting to return to my work. "Oh and try not to talk to strangers the next time you get a call, alright?" I turn back to her, only to see nothing there. _I wonder if she somehow knew of my conversation with that rabbit enthusiast. I wouldn't put it past her to investigate my being here. After all, her brother Ichika was originally the first male to pilot the IS. Maybe she'll see if I've got the capabilities to do so as well._ I thought to myself.

I reentered the room to see Alisa sleeping quietly in her bed. I smile as I checked to make sure she was comfortable. I walk to my desk and continued the analysis well into the night. By the time I finished it, it would be ready for the upcoming match and all it needed was to test the weapon systems to ensure familiarity with said systems. As I pondered on a name, I hear a beeping from my laptop with a message stating that I was receiving an incoming call.

I answer the call with a new window to see an old face, no pun intended. Standing in the view of the video feed was an elderly man, but had a well built body underneath his clothing. He had a stern gaze in his eyes as he had his arms folded up to his chest in a disapproving manner. I tried not to flinch as he spoke with that same serious tone he always had, "_It's been a long time, Arthur._" I reply sadly, "I suppose it has been, sir."

_[Play Track – Wandering- Final Fantasy X]_

I hear him sigh as he replied, "_I know it's been ten years, Arthur. You don't need to blame yourself for what happened back then. Besides, you should at least address me properly when I'm off work._" I snorted as I asked, "Is being an Admiral wearing you out already?" "_Hardly. You know how __the__ family is, Arthur._" "Right, my mistake. I tend to forget how our family has endured over the years." We both stared hard at each other before breaking down into chuckles. I continue after calming down a little. "Anyway, did you call just for our reunion by phone or was there something you needed?"

"_Actually, I've been receiving reports about your incident with the IS entrance exam and I have to say that I'm impressed by the results you delivered. I found it unusual that you became the second male to pilot the Infinite Stratos. Not to mention when I also heard about the upcoming match with both the British Representative and the first male pilot._" I shook my head and smiled while replying, "After all this time, to think that the Great Adam Hackett of the 5th Fleet has been impressed. It must be such an honor to receive praise from someone like you..." To this, we both laughed a bit, though our mirth ended when it woke up Alisa.

"Uh-oh. It looks like our fun woke up a certain sleepyhead." I commented, to which the one mentioned threw a pillow along with a hazy glare at me. "Sorry about that Alisa, I was just talking to our dear Grandfather. You wanna say hello?" I ask, to which she nods, lazily tidying herself and hopped onto my lap facing the laptop screen. "_Hello there, young lady_." Adam commented with a small smile, "_How's our favorite little girl doing?_" She began to type on the keyboard and replied, "_I am well, Grandfather. Things have been progressing smoothly today. __The school was what we expected. The students behave like they would in a standard high school setting, despite the obvious differences._" "_I see. Have you learned anything from this 'Ichika Orimura' aside from what Intel has gathered Arthur?_" Came the questioning response, to which I state, "He's like the average teenager for the most part, though he's not very good with textbook information. Though I find it odd that he's in the same class his sister teaches."

_[End]_

_[Play Track -Mysterious- Bleach OST 4]_

"_You mean to say that the Brunhilde is teaching at the IS Academy? That information wasn't mentioned back when the Academy was in the works, Arthur. There was also __referencing__ of the fact that she was in Germany for a year prior. Not to mention the fact that both siblings were involved in an incident back during the Second Mondo Grosso._" I raise an eyebrow while asking, "Wasn't Germany involved in the incident as well?"

"_That much was mentioned when the other nations were informed, though not much else was stated. From what we know, the younger Orimura had been kidnapped by an unknown organization. With the assistance from Germany's government, Chifuyu had managed to rescue him, though came at the cost of her staying in the country. It's possible that they wanted her to teach their soldiers how to use the IS at the time, though no data on that has been given._" Grandfather had replied with the professionalism that he carried for the past forty years in the military.

I 'hm'ed for a second and said, "Knowing that now, it makes more sense with my current situation with Ichika. I have a feeling Germany might send a pilot that had been a trained soldier to this school in the near future. If that's the case, could you...?" "_Not to worry Arthur. While most information on a nation's Representative is held a secret, we can deduce the possible strengths and weaknesses from their IS. If there's anything you need..._" "Actually, with the Class Representative match coming up, is it possible for you to attend? I understand if you can't." "_I may be able to, though there's always work needing to be done if what we've been looking at may be a serious case._" I frowned deeply and asked, "How bad is it?" "_Bad enough that there's been rumors of a__n unknown__ organization setting their sights on stealing ISes across the world, mostly from the larger countries._"

"Is there a name you guys can go on, whatever these guys call themselves?" "_No__t really__. We're having your old friends from our Black Ops Organization, __Hades__, along with other local mercenary groups such as the __Azure __Giants__ and __Solstice__ under their __respective__ ringleader__s__, scouring the planet for any trace of their presence. No word from the __Sanguine Horde__ though, since they've been going under the usual swapping of leaders. Last thing I heard, __an__ old schoolyard rival __of yours__ was selected as their new leader, __though the __Horde__ haven't confirmed __it__ yet._" I chuckle and said, "Wait a second, you mean _t__hat_ crazy idiot as a leader of one the infamous underground mercenary groups? Next thing you'll tell me that the Patriarch of Three Stars got taken down by some upstart." "_That appears to be the case, Arthur. Though I wouldn't call her an upstart by a long shot._" Grandfather commented with a wry grin.

I looked at him with an intense gaze and asked, "So, who's the boss now?" "_From what we heard, it's none we're familiar with, but still a force to be reckoned with._" He pulls up a photo to the right of him and said, "_Tanya __Didrikson.__ From what happened, one day she challenged him to a duel and wiped the floor with him. I also heard she has an IS going under the name Omega. Its stats are unknown, but if that's what she used to take down the Patriarch's MG, Dark Crusade, it's power must be something._"

"Somehow I get the feeling that I'd die if I cross her in any way, shape or form." I muttered, to which Grandfather replied, "_I wouldn't put it past her to do it, since she's a brutal fighter, unlike yourself._" I glare at him and reply, "You know I feel about that sort of thing, Grandfather." "_I know, you prefer a clean kill with as little blood spilled as possible._" He said, and I shrugged a little and replied, "It's how I am. I try to avoid any unnecessary deaths as much as possible."

_[End]_

He nodded and shifted his stance a little before resuming, "_Work related events aside, how are you holding up?_" I reply simply, "It's alright. I did receive an unusual call earlier, though." "_An unusual call? Who was it?" _I scratched my head a little and said, "Hard to say, Grandfather. She was an odd woman. Looked to be some odd years older than me, though I can't say she even acted like an adult. Obviously a childish personality, especially with those weird mechanical rabbit ears she had. She claimed that she was the creator of my custom made IS, though I didn't recognize her when I first saw her. She was pretty upset by that, even to the point where she refused to give me her name because of that. So I'm stuck figuring it out for the time being, while I'm getting acquainted with my new IS."

_[Play Track -Fukkatsu No Yukko- Nichijou]_

He chuckled and said, "_I'm surprised you didn't recognize her as well. The woman you just described was none other than Tabane Shinonono._" I looked at him like he grew a second head and said, "If that was her... How could I not recognize her?" "_It's hard to say. I've never met her in person, but I knew that you two had interacted when you were only four. Even then it was only in passing, I recall her __nicknaming__ you Artie __for whatever reason she had._" "That's the thing though, she only does that with people she knows really well. Like she was" "_Friends with them?_" My grandfather supplied, to which my eyes opened wide with surprise. "It makes sense, she would only give friends nicknames." I facepalm with a groan and asked, "I've been over thinking it again, haven't I?"

Both Alisa and my grandfather nodded, and I groaned again, though with more irritation this time. We spent an extra few hours talking until Alisa had requested sleep, and we bade our farewells until the day of the match. As I entered my bed for sleep, I spoke to my sister one last time, "What an interesting day, hm?" She nodded and we slept soundly, unaware to the world around us.

_[End]_

_**-A Few Days Later-**_

_[Play Track -Face Off- Final Fantasy X]_

_-Arthur POV-_

_Today's the day of our fight. I'm feeling somewhat nervous about fighting like this. I mean, on one hand, there's the chance I could win if Ichika somehow causes himself to run out of shield points and Cecilia is taken down during the process. Although, if Ichika does better with the advice I gave him, he might prove to be a more difficult opponent to face. That could only mean that Cecilia must be taken down first above all else, even though she has more experience than either of us. Still, with the weapons I have...Regardless, I know what I must do._

_-Ichika POV-_

_This is it. Time to fight against Arthur and Cecilia. I'm not sure if I can beat both of them. I know I can beat Alcott, but...No! Hackett gave valuable information and advice when I needed it. Not to mention he helped me out on our first day. I'm grateful for his help, but I've got to stand on my own feet from here on out. I've got to fight with everything I've got, especially since he wants me to not hold back. It's a matter of pride after all. Not to mention that I have to answer his question...And this battle will prove that when I win!_

_-Cecilia POV-_

_Humph. This should be over quickly. That Orimura boy nor that Hackett can stand a chance against my IS. Even if Orimura has a personal IS, there's no way the other one has one as well. If he has the standard model the academy provides, he should be an easy opponent. I will not allow a male to be the Class Representative!_

_-3rd Person POV- _

All three of the pilots were ready to fight. Many of the spectators were excited to see the upcoming conflict. Few weren't as excited, such as the teachers of said students and the childhood friend of one the combatants. Mostly out of a sense of professionalism from the former, and slight concern from the latter. They resided in the hanger bay with Ichika as he prepped himself for the battle in a few minutes. He had received his IS called the Byakushiki. It looked rather plain for an IS, though it didn't match any known series made.

As he boarded his machine, he had recalled his past few days of training with Houki, though they weren't as great as he liked, considering he had practiced kendo exclusively. Unfortunately, he hadn't made much progress in that area. It just showed to him how out of shape he was since he last practiced the art.

It wasn't long until he entered the IS and the armor started up, ready to fly into the arena. Before he began his takeoff, the three women went up to him. Chifuyu had her usual frown on her face, with Houki mirroring a similar expression while Maya had a smile on her face. Ichika nodded to each of them and took off before any of them said anything though a thought went through two of their minds, '_Idiot_'.

On Cecilia's side, she had already gone through the necessary steps to launch into the area and was the first to arrive before Ichika had. As she saw the Orimura male arrive, she hovered above him and said with a smirk, "This is your last chance to give up. I won't hold it against you if you admit defeat." Ichika shook his head and said, "No way. I was told to give it my all in this fight and that's what I'm going to do. Besides, someone asked me a very important question to answer and I'm here to give that answer!"

She looked a little perturbed by his response and asked, "What question could be so important to answer in the middle of an IS fight?" "_A very good one, depending on who you ask..._" came a distorted response from a different voice. Ichika and Cecilia turned to see an ashen gray IS hovering nearby them. Its appearance was unusual, to say the least. Rather than the standard bulkiness an IS would normally have, it had a very sleek and smooth design with few to no edges though it bore similarities to the Raphael Revive. What was more unusual was that the area where the pilot would be had armor covering the pilot entirely, not to mention that this IS had no "wings" of any kind.

It caused many to raise eyebrows and wonder why would an IS have armor covering the pilot. Most people believed that armor covering the pilot would reduce maneuverability for the IS and the pilot. For some unknown reason, it seemed to be holding up fairly well, as if the armor was never there. The distorted voice came back with a chuckle as the armored pilot gazed at the two other pilots. "_I take it you're surprised?_" Ichika nodded dumbly while Cecilia demanded, "Now who are you!? I was expecting the other male to show up so we could start." The helmet began to separate and detract into the neck base to reveal none other than Arthur.

He smiled and said, "Sorry about that, I wasn't sure if you would've recognized me with the helmet on. Though I wasn't surprised when you failed to realize one important thing: _I've been here the whole time._" Now everyone became surprised at the declaration. Some had yelled in anger, regarding the impossibility of the IS hiding in plain sight. Others attempted to theorize what had happened, but only two came close to the truth.

_[End]_

_**-Observation Room-**_

Maya had turned to Chifuyu and asked, "You don't think he's implying..." She nodded and replied, "It's possible, but I haven't heard of any company capable of creating a mechanism that allowed an IS to use to such a degree. That boy became a lot more dangerous of an opponent for both Alcott and Orimura." _It has to be her then. But why would she build something like that and install it inside an IS?_ She thought as she observed his smiling face looking at his opponents.

"To think he had an actual cloaking device that reflected all light sources and prevented others from directly seeing him unless he chose to. I wonder if it's a special ability of his..." Maya mused as she watched the pilot as well. "There's also the fact that the IS wasn't made from any known company in the world. However, its design is greatly similar to a certain foreign company that made the Raphael Revive series." Chifuyu replied.

Maya had brought up a visual of said IS' stats and was surprised that no information would show. "Wow, this definitely must be a first in its series. No data has been recorded on Hackett's IS, not even a name has been given to it as far as the records go. What do you suppose this means?" she asked, looking on in wonder as the signal for the fight had been given. "It means that he's just become just as big a target as Ichika the moment he revealed his IS to the whole school. Not only that, the world will soon be just as curious as to what Hackett can really do."

_**-The Arena-**_

Not long after the signal had been given, Arthur had immediately gone on the offensive, quickly pulling out a pair of quarterstaves and attaching them together. Once he did so, he swung fast at his opponents to separate them. Both were surprised at his initiative, but regained focus as each of them dodged backwards to avoid the strike. Cecilia had brought out a sniper rifle and fired back at Arthur, forcing him away as Ichika had watched in awe.

Arthur briefly dodged another bullet, ignoring another one of Cecilia's boasts as she continued her ranged assault, saw Ichika's expression and hardened his eyes. He allowed his weapon to dissipate, forgoing the melee angle for an alternate range. Cecilia stopped firing after seeing this action, curious as to what he would do next.

_[Play Track -Ascension- Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm]_

Arthur closed his eyes as his helmet covered his head once more and quietly said, "_Now that's more like it._" He raised his right arm into the air above with his palm slowly opening out, and a semi-snap of his metal encased fingers, the air behind him shattered like glass. As this occurred, six achromatic lights appeared behind him, spinning slowly with their radiant glow under the sunlit sky. The lights descended into the pilot's back, slowly changing shape. Suddenly, one of the lights stretched out before arching down. Each other light repeated the process, until the glow reduced to allow normal visibility for everyone.

"_This is the true form of my IS...Endless Respite. This is the first time I've actually seen its First Shift in person. As you can tell, mine is very special. It's not meant for direct combat, rather it's more of a support type than anything else, despite what I've shown thus far. As proof of good faith. I'll use this nifty trick right here._" Arthur spoke, firing a small blue ball from his hand rapidly, which stuck to the center of Cecilia's torso.

"W-what is this thing!?" she cried out, trying to remove it from her IS, but was unable to as the object would refuse to remove itself. "_Activate._" Arthur spoke tonelessly, giving off an eerie vibe that sent chills down everyone's spines. The blue ball then generated a blue sphere around Cecilia, making a whirring noise. A beeping noise then came up from her IS, the display screen popping up in front of her.

She saw the section that showed her Shield Points had noticed that her points were dropping at a significant rate. "What have you done!? My shield points are falling!" she screamed at him, to which he replied, "_It was a simple idea that came about as this: 'How does one go about depriving an IS' shield points without physically damaging it?' This is that answer, the Power Drain. It works similarly to an EMP, but not quite the same as you'll soon see._"

True to his words, her IS' Shield Points had been reduced to a fraction of its original strength. Soon, the device began to flash red with the same noise increasing fivefold, though the glowing sphere had vanished. Cecilia began to panic as she tried to figure out how to remove it, though was too late as it exploded, sending her towards the arena floor. With a resounding boom, she struck the ground hard with a trail behind her.

_**-Observation Room-**_

"I haven't heard of a device capable of draining an IS' shield. Maybe it was custom made?" Maya inquired, to which a new voice came in before Chifuyu could respond, "Technically, yes. It was one of a few add-ons Arthur had requested to have placed within his IS. Even though he never explained his reasons for doing so, I suspected as much when he asked me." The women turn to see an elderly man along with the younger sibling, Alisa. "To what do I owe the honor of having an Admiral of the US Navy in our school?" asked Chifuyu in slight curiosity that was masked by a look of disinterest, making Maya gasp in surprise.

"Simple. I came to see my grandson in his first IS battle. Nothing more to it." came the elder Hackett's reply. He had seen most of the fight before he revealed himself to the pair. While it was exemplary initially, he realized that his grandson had been playing with the girl before he had defeated her. Normally he wouldn't condone such behavior, but he kept his opinions to himself, believing that Arthur had his reasons for doing what he did.

Though he shook his head as he heard the explanation for the Power Drain's ability. He had always drilled the idea of never explaining the functions of one's weapons to his opponents as he would lose each conflict during his earlier years of private military training.

_**-Arena-**_

Ichika looked on in shock, hardly believing what he saw. Arthur had taken Cecilia down with little difficulty. He stared at Arthur, who turned his head towards Ichika as he opened his helmet once more. He looked on with eyes full of cold sorrow and spoke, "This is what I meant before on both occasions Ichika. I crushed her with a few tricks that brutally brought her to the cold earth. This was the reason why I didn't want to fight like this, because of my methods. I'm not above such tactics to end battles. Everything I've done so far I did to protect what's precious to me. I came to this city to start over, to forgive and forget what was done to me back then."

As he spoke, he helmet closed once more, the distortion ever present, mixed with an unknown fury rising, "_I failed to be a protector once and this time, I will not do so again! I lost that power, that will to fight when the ones I once cherished the most were stripped from me! Thanks to a certain someone, I now have the means to do so once more. So let me ask you again Ichika Orimura... From one brother to another. What do you fight for? Answer me and answer well! I will not tolerate anything less from you!_" he spoke with finality, crossing his arms, waiting for Ichika's response to his question.

Ichika's head lowered, his hair covering his face somewhat, silent for a moment. "_I..._" he mumbled, causing Arthur to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. The audience, including those in the observation room watched with anticipation. Ichika shot his head up, face filled with determination, spoke loudly, "I want to be the one who's protecting others! I want to have the power to do that! It's a brother's duty to protect their family! That's what I fight for!"

Arthur smiled a little before responding, "_If that's the case Ichika...What would you do in order to gain that power? Will you do it alone, or would you rather have the support of your friends and family?_" "That's obvious! Of course I'd have them with me! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them!" he shot back with a grin. Arthur nodded with satisfaction and spoke with increasing volume, "_Very well then, I will test your resolve here and now. Activate your First Shift! Show me the true form of the Byakushiki!_ _**Show me your strength, Ichika Orimura**__!_"

_[End]_

Arthur then brought up his HUD and selected a new weapon from his arsenal. Once done, he dismissed it and summoned a long sword in his left hand along with a large rectangular shield covering his right arm. The helmet covered his head again, this time having a different style. Most of the helmet had been traded in favor for visibility, the visor coming from the chin towards the back of the head rather than a small portion that garnered a narrow field of vision.

Ichika watched warily as he had no means of defending himself, though he realized that Arthur knew the Byakushiki was still on default settings. He glanced at the timer, which showed that the IS needed three more minutes until the IS was ready to activate the Shift. _I have to survive against Arthur for three minutes. How am I gonna do that!? His IS mostly relies on Close Range, though that Power Drain can be fired from his hand, so that makes him a combination of Close and Mid Range. But those wings of his...There __has to be some weakness behind his IS. There's gotta-_ "_What are you looking at, Ichika?_"

_[Play Track -Ouch- Red Vs. Blue Season 10]_

Ichika quickly turned to see a sword heading directly for his head and ducked, only to be sent flying skyward by a shield-enhanced uppercut. He went up to ten meters before righting himself, though he was forced on the defensive as Arthur relentlessly chased after him with a series of sword swings or a random attack with his shield when he could.

_Wow, he's really not giving me a chance to breathe, is he? I gotta get some distance between us..._ Ichika thought as he kept dodging the blade by narrow margins, but Arthur's shield made up for it by slowly reducing his opponent's shield points for every successful blow. As he struck another blow, Arthur shouted angrily, "_Is this all you have to show for, Ichika!?_"

_[End]_

_[Play Track -Stronger- Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm]_

He then kicked Ichika square in the chest, sending him reeling in pain and reducing his Shield Points down to the halfway mark. Arthur stared coldly at Ichika as he floated with his broiling rage rising at the Orimura boy. His rage then quelled as he spoke, though it grew as cold as bitter arctic wind,"_When will you stop playing around and get serious? If you're not willing to do it...**I'll use everything I have.****Beginning with the activation of**** Program Sigma...**_"

Ichika grew worried as Arthur's IS was encased in a frighteningly dark aura, and as that aura became more apparent, a sinister voice spoke, "_Hello again, Arthur. I see things have become unsatisfactory for you if it warrants my attention._" "_That it does, Sig, that it does... You know the routine for this right?_" The voice known as Sigma replied, "_It has been some time, but I have recalled this particular one very well. Normally this called for..._" Arthur interrupted shortly, "_I know._" Sigma quieted and awaited for the order from its master.

Arthur bowed his head as he spoke loud enough for all to hear, "_Voice Recognition Code: Plagam Extremam Infligere. You remember?_" Then came the program's response, "_Voice Recognition Codes Accepted. I do indeed, Arthur. Only when the target must be dealt with _" **"**_**Extreme Prejudice.**_" They finished at the same time, making the entire visible audience's blood freeze. Arthur slowly hefted his shield, pointing the lower end of it at Ichika. The shield then grew a vertical line from its center, going to both ends of the shield.

The shield began to split in half, revealing a strange gun that had been hidden within the shield. A loud noise came from the barrel end that was facing Ichika, with a light that began to gather into a small sphere of a greenish hue. Recognizing the need to avoid further damage, Ichika flew away in an attempt to escape Arthur's line of sight. With a bated breath, he fired at Ichika, the green sphere becoming a lance of light heading directly for his target's back.

It was getting closer as Ichika continued to fly as fast as he could to avoid the laser and once it was in striking range, he dove down within a millimeter of it nearly hitting him. The laser continued on its trajectory before it dissipated. Ichika slouched a little to catch his breath when heard "_Got you..._" from Arthur. Before he could see where he was, he had been struck by another light and an explosion followed with smoke surrounding the immediate area.

_[End]_

Arthur watched in silence as the smoke cleared from his attack, revealing Ichika appearing to look undamaged as he proudly stood in the First Shift of his IS. Arthur smiled to himself as he muttered, "_Perhaps it's time to lift the veil then..._" Ichika looked at Arthur with renewed vigor as he summoned a metal sword to his hand. Curious, Arthur eyed the item in his opponent's hand and asked, "_Is that what I think that is?_"

Ichika shrugged as he held it out in front of him, the sword held horizontally so the handle was facing to his left. He closed his eyes and the sword opened before collapsing, allowing a blue-hued light to exit it and take the form of a blade in its place. "I'm not sure, maybe you'd like to make a guess?" he asked with a smirk, to which Arthur grunted and replied, "_It's the Yukihira Nigata, the blade your sister used to win the first tourney. I know that it was only thing she used during the Mondo Grosso. It's obvious you inherited her legacy one way or another. I hope you know how to use that thing._"

During this brief statement, the wings grew still before vanishing slowly from the tip to the base. The air began to shift and distort, surprising everyone who was watching when they saw Cecilia hovering in the same area she used to be before she was struck down. She looked around in confusion as she noticed her opponents were observing her, one with the same emotion she felt and the other with a knowing smile.

She yelled angrily at Arthur, frustration clear on her face, "How is it that you're both still standing!? I was sure I defeated you after you showed your wings and defeated the other boy with that strange device of yours!" Ichika looked surprised at that and replied, "That's what I saw when he used it on you!" She looked affronted at that and retorted, "How could he possibly do that? I would never let some amateur get the best of me!" Arthur shook his head as the two argued and said, "That's because I.."

_**-Observation Room-**_

"Never used it in the first place." came the finished response from the older Orimura, and the Admiral said, "He always was the crafty one, never really being a direct fighter. Somehow, he must have fooled his opponents using those wings of his when he revealed them." "It's possible that those wings might have created an illusion. But why would he go through the trouble of setting that up, only to dispel his wings?" asked Maya, who had been equally confused by the whole situation as the audience outside.

"He didn't dispel them, that's the problem." the Admiral replied, and Chifuyu continued, "He hid them from view. While it's faint, they're still there. Take a look, Yamada-sensei." She brought up a frozen image of the _Endless Respite_, right when the wings were 'fading'. They still retained an outline of their shape, but distorted the sky behind them, waving slowly as they had before. Then the pair continued to observe the fight when a loud crash sounded, redirecting their view to a missing Arthur, a panting Ichika and an equally panting Cecilia.

_**-Arena-**_

_[Play Track -Quatre Mains (chambre cordes)- Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo]_

As the teachers tried to search for the missing combatant they heard an echoing laugh in the arena, ceasing all conversations or other noises the audience was making. "_Having trouble, are we?_" asked Arthur, who reappeared between them, not a single scratch on his armor as he glanced both ways before vanishing once more. "_It seems as though this conflict has reached its end. __Perhaps I had expected too much from you Ichika._" Arthur spoke again, this time reappearing beside him, only to vanish as Ichika swung at him.

"_Or maybe __the reason you can't win against her is because__ you lack the conviction to defeat her?_" he asked, materializing directly behind him, facing the opposite direction. Ichika paused, glancing at him through the corner of his eye, his ire beginning to rise at the jab. "_After all, she's still here. You could easily beat her, given proper timing and the depletion of her weapons, she can lose._" Arthur continued, turning around to see the target of his one-sided conversation, her composure too far gone. She lost it to her rage, bringing forth her BIT drones, and rained blue upon the males.

As the rain descended upon them, Arthur said, "_I knew I forgot something! Her Blue Tears has drones that can be mentally commanded to do anything she wants. Downside is, she has __to-oh crap__!_" he dodged out of an attack by his opponent's ferocious combination of her drones and her rifle. The pair deftly moved around the blue lasers as if they were dancing rather than dodging. As Arthur avoided the assault, he continued where he left off, "_She needs to stay still while she controls the drones. Easy way to exploit this is to have one of us distract her while the other sneaks behind and knocks her down. I believe the best way to do this is to have her devote her entire focus on one person long enough for the other to take her down. I'll be the distraction, it is my specialty after all._"

_[End]_

_[Play Track -Victory Must Be Grasped- .hack/G.U.]_

Arthur then flew off directly towards Cecilia, while Ichika looked on in silence before taking off in a different direction. The female pilot then focused her fire on Arthur as he anticipated, quickly dodging as often as he could manage to do so. Arthur summoned his combined staff he used earlier and separated them into their respective pieces. He widened his stance and curved blades began to form from the upper sections of the staffs. The handles shortened slightly below the hands to ease Arthur's grip on the transformed weapons.

He then took the ends from both weapons and slammed them together, slowly pulling them apart to reveal a chain attached to each end. Grabbing the chain from the left-bladed kusarigama, he gave it a little spin before grabbing the handle and pointing it downward. "_Alright, let's get going then._" Arthur spoke, spinning both blades before hurling the one from his right as he sped directly toward the oncoming fire raining down on him. Some of the bullets were deflected by the spinning blade, clearing the path for Arthur but was repelled by a few well placed shots by the BITs.

"_Those drones are getting really annoying..._" Arthur mumbled, trying and failing to deflect the attacks back at the drones, though he wasn't careful enough when he had been blindsided by Ichika as he had been knocked back by Cecilia's rifle attacks. They stumbled in the air together for a moment until Arthur moved Ichika out of the path of another bullet that came dangerously close to his head. "_Okay, we need to formulate a strategy here. Those drones aren't letting us any closer to her. We know their weakness, so why __is it__ so difficult to beat her?_" Arthur whispered to his fellow male pilot, and he responded, "_How should I know? You were so sure that she could lose. It's not like she actually decided to prepare in advance or anything._"

Arthur mentally sighed and said, "_Sometimes I wonder if you're better at this sort of thing than I think you are. I guess the only way we can win is to move faster than she can see. Any ideas on how __we can do that?_" "_Maybe we don't have to move faster...We gotta make __her __**think**__ we're moving faster than she can see._" Ichika supplied, to which Arthur answered, "_If that's the case, I have just the thing..._"

_[End]_

_[Play Track -The Game Has Changed- Tron Legacy]_

Air swirled around the IS, pushing and churning until it spread outwardly in a rapid fashion. The audience watched as the _Endless Respite_ shifted to a kneeling position with the right knee up. His head bowed down, Arthur held his blade before him, its curvature pointed to the oceanic sky above. He spoke lowly, though from what the Orimura boy could tell, it sounded like a prayer, "_Let the Light guide me on this __hallowe__d path, for where I go, none must follow in my wake should the __A__byss consume them. For those courageous enough to follow, let the Light grant me the strength to protect them. And should the worst come to pass...grant me forgiveness._"

Arthur shot up into the sky at a rapid speed, knocking Ichika off balance slightly in the process. As he reached his destination, his wings began to reappear behind his back, though they straightened into lines, each pointing in a different direction like a six pointed star. "_Morning Glory_" was all that was spoken as beams of light lanced from the wings towards his opponent. Cecilia was taken aback as she vainly attempted to dodge the white rain pouring down upon her.

She had her BITs run interference by firing at the rain to negate the attack as much as possible, but it was not enough to save their master. The drones were systematically destroyed, leaving Cecilia defenseless before the massive wave of destruction. Her appearance faded as the white light consumed her.

_[End]_

* * *

_**C͠orru̸pt́ion̷ ̕D͜e͏te͟c̛t̀ed͜.̢.͝.̴**_

_**L̴aun̢c͏hin̸g͡ ͡Memo̢r̀y͡ Re̢s͡t̴or̸ation P͢r̕òt͘oc͘o̧ls҉**_

_**̧WA̸ŖN̷I̢NG̷!҉**_

_**͞P̀r͞o̡tocoļ F͡a͜i͡lure͠**_

_**̢Co̶rrųpti͜o̴n ̶at 5%**_

* * *

_08Jul13__ (As of this fanfic's creation)_

_AN: So ends the first chapter of my new story. To be honest, I was having a difficult time trying to write my other story, so I had to try something new. This was the product of a long, long thought process of how I wanted to go about writing an IS fanfic. It's the first fic I've written that far exceeded the writing limits I've been used to doing up until now._

_As you can see, I've been extremely busy with things that pertain to my current lifestyle, one that heavily limits Internet usage. Don't be surprised if I don't reply to any emails or PMs during this time period. However, this is not indefinite as of this moment that I am writing this notice. Should I reply, it'll be brief due to the fact I'm attempting to catch up on personal emails and other events I may have missed._

_Anyway, feel free to comment on what you think of this fanfiction. I'm going to continue writing in my spare time outside of work-related events. _

_Until next time, the Void bids thee farewell..._

_EXTRA NOTE: As you can tell, I had intended to post this fic sooner, but well...*shrug*_


	2. Trial

_Chapter Two:_

_Trial_

* * *

The air was still, the crowd quiet with rapt attention. The arena had been scarred by the battle before them, wrought by the combatants that had fought for the title of Class Representative. One note of importance was that one of the combatants had finally been defeated, who was none other than Cecilia Alcott. Her defeat brought up questions as to who actually bested her. Some had believed that Arthur had used Cecilia's greatest strength against her, while others insisted that during the grand assault Ichika used his mysterious One-Off Ability to bring her down.

Among the speculation, the only conclusion was that the males had worked together to defeat her before facing off. For the one who dealt the final blow was known only to the fighters themselves as they gazed at their handiwork below them. Her IS gone, Cecilia's body lied within the crater caused by her landing. Ichika looked over to Arthur, who was still observing the unmoving girl stoically. Before he could a word out, Arthur turned to him fully with a semi-solid battle stance and spoke, "_It's only us now, Ichika. What will __you do? Your shield points are quite low right now. If we fight, there's no guarantee that you will win. I've made sure to wear the two of you through a battle of attrition. __Should__ you choose to fight, I will not hesitate to defeat you as quickly as possible. This is your only chance to decide and if you do not, I will do so for you. Now, choose._"

Ichika bit his lip as he stared back at Arthur, trying to decide on his final course of action for the match. After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply while calming himself. He opened his eyes and glared hard at Arthur, shouting in defiance, "So what if you have the advantage! I'll beat everything you have to throw at me! I won't quit now, not while I can still fight!" Arthur gave an appraised look at him before asking, "_Are you sure about this?_" Ichika nodded and replied, "I am." Arthur nodded back while saying, "_Very well...I forfeit this match._"

A brief silence before a cacophony of screams and shouts sounded at once, "_**WHAT!?**_" Ichika couldn't believe what he was hearing from his now former opponent's mouth. He cried out, "What do you mean you forfeit!? I thought you said you were gonna fight me." Arthur nodded and replied, "_I did. I simply chose not to. Besides, this battle was never about winning for me. I wanted to see if you have the resolve to fight no matter what would happen. And you did well._" Ichika smiled with pride, though it was brutally crushed as Arthur continued, "_Of course, you still have a ways to go before you can beat me._" Ichika slumped in despair, with Arthur looking at him curiously before saying, "_With this over with, I suppose that could only mean..._"

_**-Cafeteria, the following night-**_

The room exploded into cheer, students firing confetti poppers into the air, the atmosphere was bright and warm for everyone that gathered there. Ichika looked around in bewilderment and asked, "Wait, I really got picked to be the Class Rep?" Houki had replied with a question of her own, "Why are you so surprised anyway, you won didn't you?" "Yeah but-" Ichika started until he was interrupted by Cecilia, who exclaimed, "Just be content with the idea that you represent our class from now on!"

Ichika sighed as the festivities continued on until he realized something. "Hey, where's Arthur at?" he asked and the reply came from his sister, who stood nearby from the crowded students surrounding him, "He had familial obligations and requested to leave the school for the night." Houki frowned and huffed with crossed arms, while the other students including Ichika and Cecilia, looked on in curiosity. "Why would he request to leave school, sensei?" asked a random student.

"Does anyone remember what happened to one of the neighboring towns 10 years ago today?" asked Chifuyu, looking on with a steely gaze. Not a single student had any idea, with one asking, "Was it the day Infinite Stratos was revealed?" Chifuyu shook her head, leaving the students wondering. At this point, Maya answered, "This day marked the 10th year since the Great Fuyuki Fire. Supposedly, Hackett-san had lived in this town when the fire occurred where he had lost his family and barely came out of it alive." The female students gasped, Houki and Cecilia included, some even had tears in their eyes while Ichika had a solemn look on his face. He thought back to Arthur's words earlier today: "_I came to this city to start over, to forgive and forget what was done to me back then." "I failed..." "I lost that power, that will to fight when the ones I once cherished the most were stripped from me!"_

At this point, the teachers exchanged glances and older Orimura continued where her colleague left off, "This was why he left as soon as the match ended. He's currently on his way to Fuyuki to pay his respects and spend the night there. He will return the following morning." The celebration continued where it left off, but the mood had been soured by this new revelation.

_**-Fuyuki City (Arthur POV)-**_

I stared in silence as our vehicle passed through the streets, illuminated by the lights of the bustling city. I thought to myself as I looked at the buildings that were being passed by rapidly, "_It's been ten years. I wonder what's happened since that night..._" As we neared the graveyard, I trembled slightly at the sight of the ominous land of buried corpses, until I felt a pair of comforting hands from both my grandfather and my younger sister.

I steadied my breath when the car came to a stop near an entrance to the graveyard, steeling myself for this awaited reunion. I exited the vehicle slowly, taking in the area around me. I turn to see Alisa and Grandfather exit from the other side and watched them come around to my side. I look to the driver of our vehicle, who waited patiently as he was watching us heading for the entrance. I peer into the vehicle and tell him, "We'll return in about fifteen minutes. If there's any sign of danger, make sure my sister and grandfather make it to our rest stop safely." He nods as I reach into my pocket and hand him the amount of money I kept before our arrival.

I leave the vehicle once more, turning around before walking up to the gate, with Grandfather and Alisa in tow. We enter the graveyard, seeing it smothered in dense fog, determining the path we needed to go to reach the proper gravestone. Making sure Alisa stayed between us, we walked together quietly, the only noise we made were by our footsteps. After about five minutes, Alisa suddenly removed herself from our hands and ran ahead of us. I glance at Grandfather, who nodded at me, silently acknowledging my decision to run after her.

I managed to catch up to her, only for her to be staring at a group of gravestones that had been destroyed along with most of the area nearby themselves as I had soon discovered. I look around to see what might have caused the wanton destruction, only for said cause to appear before us. It crashed against the ground, sending dust and chunks of dirt everywhere in its immediate vicinity. I saw a massive dark form hunched over before it stood upright, its appearance was as intimidating as its size. It had dark brown hair, though it looked like dreadlocks for whatever reason.

The muscles was what stood out the most from this creature, their size was what the sole reason the beast stood so tall. The beast's skin had a lighter shade compared to its hair, though what made me uneasy the most was the massive stone-like weapon it held in its had like it was a sword. I positioned myself in front of Alisa as much as I could to prevent it from seeing her. As I was observing it warily, the monster began to stand upright to its full height. I gulped as it noticed our presence, glancing at us with its gleaming red eye through the fog.

It then looked away in another direction as the sound of a sword could be heard swinging at the massive man-beast. I took that chance to pull my younger sibling away from the combat zone, heading back towards Grandfather, who was approaching us with concern as he asked, "What was that loud noise? What's going on over there?" I gently push Alisa over to him as I replied, "I'm not sure, but there's something really strange going on." I guided them back to the car, which was still in the same position when we entered the graveyard.

I quickly told the driver, "Do as I said earlier, and do it fast!" He nods before taking off to the hotel at a rapid pace. I turned around and headed into the graveyard once more, only this time I activated my IS' pilot armor with the cloaking capability turned on to avoid any one from seeing me. I slowly crept to a nearby tree, seeing a few unusual people fighting the behemoth. One was a red-haired teenager approximately my age along with three girls with vastly different clothing styles.

Amongst the three, I thought the smallest should've gone somewhere colder if she wanted to wear whatever it was she was wearing. I shift my gaze to the blond one that was adorned in armor, though the style was vastly outdated as I realize that something was very wrong here. I look to the third girl who looked like she was from a religious group or something. I narrowed my eyes as I saw the armored girl holding air in a highly visible state, but even stranger was that I could hear the sound of metal grinding as she held it. I brought up my scanner to analyze what the mysterious weapon was, only to see that the data came up inconclusive. I shook my head as I moved behind the giant quietly as the battle raged on. Once I had properly positioned myself, I summoned all of my orbs behind me to use them against this monstrosity.

The giant had appeared to be close to victory as it raised its large weapon into the air, ready to finish the trio off with one final blow. Before he could strike, I threw my arms out in front of me, the orbs following the motion by launching bands that restrained him from swinging his blade. For added measure, I transformed the orbs into my wings to add extra restraint, holding the creature in place. During the process, my bands became visible with a dull white light, surprising everyone but the chained beast. I spoke with a hint of anger as I looked at all of them, "_Could someone please explain why there is a giant trying to kill you and who was the cause for the destruction of this sacred land? I will not hesitate to inform the authorities of this wanton chaos you have all created tonight."_

Silence filled the air before being consumed by laughter by the child. I raised an eyebrow as she pointed at me while still laughing. Before I could ask why she was laughing, the giant began to struggle against the binds. My eyes widened in surprise as the thing broke free from his chains. "_Huh, I guess I should have seen that coming..." _ was all I said before dodging a sword swing from this brute. I ducked as it tried to grab me from my right side, leaving me no choice but to roll back from it and set myself into a battle stance. "_Perhaps I should ask again...You there, with the sword._" the three behind me gaped as I pointed at the monster with a hardened stare.

It looked at me silently, though it had the child next to him, her face with a triumphant grin on her face. I summoned my sword in my hand that I was using to point at it, I asked with the same stare, "_Why are you destroying this place? This area is not meant for combat. I must insist that you take the brat with you and never enter this sacred ground again. Do you understand?_" I heard an angry cry from the church girl behind me, "Are you crazy!?" I ignored her when I heard an equally angry cry from the child, "Hey! I'm not a brat! I'm eighteen years old!"

The pair behind me was taken aback as I snorted, "_You must be pretty short for your age then, brat._" "Stop calling me that!" she cried. I chuckle as I allowed my sword to vanish from my hand. I crossed my arms as I observed the child continue to be riled up by my jabs. I looked back at the giant and asked one last time, "_So, are you done here? I have other things to do and I would like for you to leave this instant._" The girl shook her head as she said, "You really are an idiot, aren't you? Berserker can't talk at all. He's lost all of his sanity when I summoned him." I raised an eyebrow as I reply, "_Uh-uh. Right. Like I'd believe some brat-"_ "Hey!""_who would make up such ridiculous lies. If that's true, why don't make __you__ him disappear to prove it?_"

She gave a scowl before commanding this 'Berserker' to disappear. I sigh in relief as it vanished from human eyes. "There! Are you satisfied?" I hear her ask as I walk away with a smile on my face, disappearing into the night. I could hear her fading angry shouts as I left the graveyard. When I made sure that I was a good distance away from the place, I took off into the sky towards the hotel my Grandfather and little sister were staying at. I saw them standing on a balcony that led to our room. I came down to a slow descent before dispelling my IS and landed squarely on the railing with both feet set at a 45º angle. Neither of them looked shocked when I had materialized before them.

"The issue has been resolved, though I'm afraid we won't be returning to the graveyard due to the massive damage it received earlier this night." I said as I hopped down from the railing, entering the room before turning around to face them. They followed me in before stopping in front of me. I put up my thinking pose as I began to contemplate the confrontation back at the graveyard. "Something on your mind, Arthur?" asked Grandfather with his usual look of seriousness.

I nodded as I brought up images that I had my IS record during any fight I had, including my prior fight with Ichika. I showed multiple images of Berserker and the people in the area that was involved with said confrontation. I spoke while pointing at the images, "Back at the graveyard, I witnessed the large behemoth known as 'Berserker' fighting against these three." I pointed at each image I mentioned before stopping on the blond one, "It appears that this girl was wielding air as a weapon, though it might be a cover." "For what?" came the unspoken question.

I sighed slightly and continued, "Considering what she wore at the time, I believe she held a sword of some kind, since her grip is exactly like how I would hold my own sword. What exactly her sword looks like, I don't know." I point at the boy and girl who were with the sword -wielder. "These two do not appear to have any weapons on them, but considering what I learned from the little girl who was with them, one of these two must have summoned the knight like she said she did."

"When you say summon, do you mean-" Grandfather began with me continuing from there, "Yes, Grandfather. Magic. There's no way something that large can be considered normal here. As hard I find to believe it, it is indeed possible that magic exists. I can safely say that whatever situation they're in, we need to avoid at all costs. Something like this has to be known to someone or certain people capable of performing these feats. If word got to them that people incapable or ignorant of magic discovered something like this, they could get killed, us included."

"This is not good. If we end up involved in something beyond our comprehension, this could likely get to everyone back at HQ or even the Academy." Grandfather said gravely. I nodded as I began to delete all of the files that were recorded during the incident. Grandfather spoke with a lighter tone, "Good idea, Arthur. We need to prevent this information from leaking as much as possible." I smiled a little as the images were deleted one at a time until they had all been removed entirely.

**-_Two hours later-_**

I stood outside, watching the full moon in silence as the other two went to bed to rest up for our return trip to the Academy. Looking down at the city, I saw the bright lights twinkling like stars as I heard the sounds of people returning home from a long day or those that venture out in the night. Looking up, I see a full moon shining down on the earth below, illuminating those that shine with lights of their own. Closing my eyes, I began singing lowly as to not awaken them:

"_You and I were in our dream_

_You'd follow close wherever I'd lead_

_The steps you and I go on and on_

_You catch me safe if ever I fall"_

I began to reminisce my past as a child, back when I still had the ones I loved the most...

"_Your hand in mine,_

_we walked along_

_No hill too high, _

_no road was too long"_

An image flashed in my mind; one of me running through a grassy field with my mother's blurred face looking on into the sky above me. I look back to see her warm smile despite not seeing her face...

"_To stay with you, _

_my only dream_

_To share your life,_

_whatever it mean"_

I see myself gazing one night at a starry sky with my father, watching as he pointed out the constellations during a prior excursion...

"_I knew you'd have to go away_

_My love for you could not help you stay_

_You drifted off day by day _

_I cherished every breath that remained"_

My voice hitched as I recalled the frightening images of the fire that ravaged the small houses, people screaming and dying. My younger self unable to comprehend the destruction that slowly consumed my hometown...

"_In my arms _

_close to me_

_your body broke _

_your soul was set free"_

I saw my father protect me from the wrath of the scorching flames as they caused a section of the house to break into large chunks of debris. He had wrapped himself around me when a piece from the ceiling fell and impaled him, nearly killing me in the process. I watched as we collapsed onto the floor with his body above my own...

"_You left this world_

_my treasured friend_

_The chapter closed _

_but love has no end"_

In another bit of memory, I saw myself screaming as I watched my mother trapped within the confines of the scorching house, collapsing on her. My younger self tried to save her, but to no avail as I had been rescued by dark figures behind me, the smoke causing me to pass out...

"_Farewell my angel _

_you were with me always_

_just close your eyes and_

_next time we meet it's forever"_

I stood in silence at the funeral of my parents alongside my Grandfather, who wore his military uniform and had been a captain at the time. I took one last look at the tombstones before I had been taken away for what would be a new beginning of my life. As I finished singing, I heard a small clap above me, prompting me to turn to see a man in a red trench coat, his expression was one of amusement as he stated, "You have quite the talent there boy." I raise an eyebrow in response, my arms folded as I take a defensive stance by the railing. "I wasn't expecting an audience tonight, otherwise I would've charged you for that free show." I retorted in annoyance. He chuckled as he held his hands up slightly as if he surrendered, replying with a hint of mirth, "My apologies then. I didn't realize a man such as yourself would be so touchy with his abilities. Speaking of, I am curious as to know if you were a _participant_ of our little conflict."

I shook my head and said, "Not really, I was paying respects to the past before I took notice of the damage caused by a _mad beast_ that just happened to be nearby. At any rate, were you following me because you might have thought that I would pose a potential threat to your so-called "_conflict_" of yours?" He shrugged and replied, "That depends on your answer, boy." "Then no, I'm not interested. Nor would I be even capable of doing so. I _do_ have other obligations to mind after all. Besides, imagine how the United States _and_ Japan would feel if one of the only male IS pilots somehow died and they decided to investigate this "_conflict_" of yours. I'd imagine that your master wouldn't like that at all." "No, I suppose not." He muttered before he turned and vanished, with me sighing with exhaustion. "This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation from the school and yet I get involved with something I have no right being a part of. Good thing we'll be heading back tomorrow." I said to myself before turning in for the night.

_**-The Next Morning-**_

The ride back was easier than I had expected, though our arrival was much more unusual when we were besieged by the female students from our class. Thankfully, Grandfather managed to shield us from the more aggressive girls, though I managed to catch a glimpse of Ichika along with Cecilia, Houki and some unknown female I have not seen before. She looked a little small, perhaps too young to be in the school, though I have made mistakes in the past.

_Hm, I wonder if that's a transfer student?_ I thought while heading to my classroom again, ignoring anyone outside of my family. As we entered the hallway outside the classroom, I spoke to the pair with me, "We're here. Anything you guys want to say before I go in?" My grandfather decided to speak first, "I have important issues to attend to. I'm taking your sister to your aunt and uncle's house for the time being." I nodded and replied, "That's acceptable. Is this alright with you, little sis?" She nodded, holding up a message that stated, "_It is fine. I'll be sure to call you when you're done with class._" I reply quietly, "That's good. It won't be as fun with you gone, but I think I'll do just fine with my friends here."

She looked down slightly, her snowy hair covering her eyes briefly before she rushed at me, crashing against my legs with as much force her small body could muster. I gently smiled before crouching down in front of her. I placed my left hand and placed it on her head, rubbing it affectionately while whispering, "_Don't be sad. Remember what we promised?_" She nodded while her head was still down. "'_I will be your guardian angel whenever you need me the most. Just say the word, and I'll be there to protect you from all the world's evils._'"

Alisa raised her head to reveal her glistening blue eyes, but no tears were shed as I pulled her into an embrace. As we held our embrace, we had unknowingly gathered observers from my classroom looking through the glass as well as other students around us. A rough cough from our grandfather pulled us out of the embrace. We looked back at each other and with a nod, I stood at my full height as she took a step back.

I look at my Grandfather, who kept himself from smirking, nodded and held out his left hand towards me. I brought up my right hand and we shook for a second before he held the same hand out to Alisa, who took it in earnest. They bid their final farewells to me as they departed from the school. I turned around to find that the crowds had dispersed rather quickly, and anyone within proper speaking distance had been avoiding me. Finding this behavior to be rather odd, I head over to Ichika, who had been rather perturbed by today's events thus far. "Hey there." I call out to him, who looks at me in surprise.

_**-Normal POV-**_

Ichika replies with a tone of cheer, "Ah, morning. How was the trip?" Arthur scratched the back of his head and said, "It was interesting, to say the least. Aside from that, I think I feel better now since I left. Wait. Who told you what I was doing?" Ichika had a look of uncertainty before replying, "Well, it was my sister originally until Miss Yamada came in and they explained _why_ you left."

Arthur's body froze, his jaw tightened with fully constrained anger. He slowly asked as he calmed down, "Any particular reason they had for telling you guys something I had adamantly asked _not_ to share with anyone at all?" "N-no, they didn't. Only that some of us were wondering where you went." Arthur groaned before slouching in his seat, his hands covering his face.

"While I knew it was a matter of time before you guys knew about my past, I would have preferred that it had been done on my terms. Now the other girls will only pity me because of that. This is gonna be so annoying." he muttered before putting his head on the desk. Ichika sighed and looked upwards with a semi-frown on his face as he thought, "_Why would he be so concerned about other people's opinions of him?_"

_**-Lunch-**_

Arthur ate quietly as Ichika talked animatedly with the new girl that went by the name of Rinin Fan, the Chinese Representative Candidate who had transferred to the school recently. Arthur wasn't entirely sure what was between the two, but it seemed like they were very good friends. He glanced back at the table behind him and noticed how Houki and Cecilia were glaring at the new girl. He turned around to continue eating and thought, "_They're rather suspicious of her. Makes sense, those two were already competing for Orimura and with Rin here, it makes things worse. I have a feeling they'll_-"WHAM. He, along with the pair in question, looked for the disturbance to see Houki and Cecilia in front of the table with their hands on it glaring at Ichika and Rin.

Arthur kept quiet as the first pair started, "What's the nature of your relationship with Ichika!?" "Are you two dating?" He raised an eyebrow as he covertly glanced at Ichika and Rin, who were startled by their interruption. The latter had denied the second question where Ichika replied saying that they were childhood friends. He corrected himself by saying Rin was his second childhood friend by explaining that Rin went to his school not long after Houki left.

Their discussion switched over to the nature of eating and who knew who longer. Arthur ignored their diatribes and banter as he silently went to gather more food before returning without their notice. He watched as Rin rebuked them and told them to leave. He turned to look at Ichika, who was having trouble on what to say about the problem. Ichika tried to look to Arthur for help, only for Arthur getting up with an irritated look on his face, departing the cafeteria. Rin noticed this and asked, "What's his problem, Ichika?" Knowing Arthur's reaction from their prior conversation, he decided against telling them. He sighed and replied, "I wish I knew..."

_**-Arena, after class-**_

Arthur walked out to the center of the arena and had set up several target posts made of various wooden material he had gathered before he had returned to the school. Once the posts were in place, he returned to his original position and said to himself, "Alright, that's done. Now let's try getting some practice in before I turn in for the night."

Arthur deployed his IS, Endless Respite, and brought out his sword and shield as he did before in his match. "Envision the target, Arthur." He closed his eyes and his HUD came to life, his helmet covering his head. He flashed his eyes open, target reticules flaring within sight range. He dashed at the first target, and with a hefty swing from his sword arm, bifurcated it within the span of 2 seconds before shifting his weight to spin around to bash the upper half at the next target 5 meters to the left while kicking the lower half in the opposite direction at the third post with the exact same distance from where the first post used to be.

He dashed as fast he could behind the second post as it received the forceful blow from the fragment, Arthur then swung his shield to reverse the transference of momentum and shattered both the post and fragment in the process with excessive force. He rapidly sped up towards the third post, blowing through the shards of wood, as the lower half came within inches of making contact. He brought his shield up at horizontal level and it once again split open to reveal the hidden gun within it, firing a concussion grenade from it. As soon as it made contact with the post fragment, the explosion shattered the wood into thousands of pieces.

He spun around to see four posts remaining in the arena and dismissed the shield for the blade alone. Grasping the blade with both hands, he tore all of them down in rapid succession, leaving a trail of savage destruction wrought by his pent up fury. Pausing momentarily to quell his rage, he allowed his sword to dissipate and observed his handiwork before he began to clean up the mess.

_**- 30 minutes later-**_

After disposing of the wood he used, exited the arena via the hangar bay, noticing Ichika as well as Houki and Cecilia entering from a different area, though the latter came after the former had already started training with their love interest. _It looks like I'm not the only one getting some training done, eh Ichika? _Arthur thought before turning around and continued on towards the exit. He began to whistle a tune as he worked his way through various pathways and halls until he reached the dorms.

_**- Later that night-**_

After eating dinner in his room, Arthur set aside his tray and grabbed a book off the upper desk shelf he had. Sitting down in his chair, he began reading his book that spoke of a man's tale, a never ending quest full of otherworldly dangers. One that would bring companions together from across time itself. All brought together in search of an elusive construct that all roads met. But that story is for another time, in another place. Right now, however, his time of peace was met with stifled noises down the hall. _I wonder what's going on..._ Arthur mused as he grabbed a nearby bookmark, placing it within his book before setting it down on the desk and making his way out of the room. Walking past a few rooms, he realized that the noises were coming from Ichika's room. "What did he do now?" he asked himself before knocking on the door.

The noises suddenly quieted as Arthur took a slight step away from the door, noticing the small sounds of footsteps making their way to the door. To no surprise for Arthur, Rin had been the one to open the door. He raised an eyebrow as she looked at him in surprise, along with Ichika and Houki. Rin exclaimed angrily as she pointed at Arthur, "What do you want!? Can't you see we're in the middle of something here?" He glanced at Ichika, who seemed somewhat relieved to see him along with Houki, though she didn't show as much. He looked back down at Rin and replied, "_Well..._ I was in the middle of something myself when I heard a commotion coming from this room. I figured I could try diffusing the situation before one of the teachers do it themselves. So," he clapped his hands together and asked, "What seems to be the problem, Miss Fan?"

_**- One brief explanation later-**_

Arthur was standing in the middle of Ichika and Houki's room, along with Rin and said occupants. The former stood facing the latter three that were facing him standing in a semicircle. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed lowly, trying not to get a headache. Letting go, he opened his eyes and looked at the trio individually.

"So let me see if I have this right," Arthur said before pointing at Rin, "You want to share this room with Ichika," She nodded at him as he pointed at said male and continued, "who already shares the room with Miss Shinonono." This time, he pointed at Houki and said, "And she also happens to be childhood friends with Ichika, am I right?" All three nod, allowing him to finish, "Which leads you to say that since you are _also_ Ichika's childhood friend, you should be able to share the room with him and switch with Miss Shinonono. The problem is that since Houki is refusing your request, all three of you ended up causing a ruckus, which led to my being here."

At this, Arthur calmly asked, "Now, did I miss anything?" No one responded initially, though they slowly shook their heads not long after. "Okay, here's what we can do to solve this dilemma:

a) Houki stays and Rin leaves..."

At this Rin says, "There's no way I'm leaving!" Arthur ignores her and continues:

"b) Rin stays and Houki leaves..."

Houki replies with crossed arms and a glare, "I was here first! I'm not going anywhere."

Arthur looks at the females before shrugging and saying, "Well the only other option is that you _**both**_ leave and I room with him..." The girls look aghast as Ichika asked, "Are you sure that's okay?"

Arthur turns to him with a question of his own, "Why shouldn't it be okay? We're both guys, so wouldn't it be better than having both of us sharing a room with a girl?" Houki states, "I guess that makes sense..." "Maybe you're right." said Rin, with Arthur raising his hands in a placatory manner, "I'm not saying we go and do this now. Only that it was an option to consider. For now, let Houki and Ichika share the room until the faculty decides whether or not to switch one of them out of the room."

They all nod in agreement, with Arthur smiling and said, "Now that's done, I'm heading back to my room. I better not hear any more noises from here for the rest of the night okay? I don't want Miss Orimura breathing down our necks because you were too rowdy." As he was talking, he walked way from the trio towards the door and left the room. He closed the door behind him quietly as to not disturb the other residents and made his way back to his room.

Upon reaching the room, he opened the door and closed it behind him as he entered. He glanced at the clock, seeing that it was rather late, decided to contact his relatives to see if his sister was awake at the current hour. Grabbing his phone from his desk drawer, he dialed his aunt's number and waited for a response. "_Hello?_" Arthur smiled as he said, "Hey, it's me." "_Hey there my little angel, how are you?"_" He shook his head, knowing how his aunt would always call him that when he was a child.

"I'm doing fine, auntie. Is Alisa still awake or did she go to bed?" he asked, getting up to wander around the room with the phone. "_She's in the kitchen with your uncle, getting some water before she goes to bed._" His aunt responded, her voice somewhat grating but rather pleasant to Arthur for a change. "Is it alright that I say good night?" he asked and her immediate response was, "_You know you don't have to ask that, dear. I'll let her know you want to talk to her._"

He waited for a few moments before he felt a vibration from his phone. He looked to see a message that read: '_How was your day back at school? _' He replied, '_It had its ups and downs. Mostly still annoyed with Miss Orimura for mentioning_ _**that**_ _incident._' '_Was there any reason she had for doing that?_ ' she asked. He paused before answering, '_Not that I know of, no. Other than that, met new transfer student. Chinese. Names Rinin Fan. She's also a representative like Cecilia._'

'_Anything else?_ ' she asked, and he responded, '_She's apparently Ichika's **second** childhood friend with Shinonono being the first._' '_So it's like **that** then, isn't it?'_ He smiled and typed, '_I don't know what you're talking about. But yes, she's another girl that likes him. At any rate, I better not hold you up for too long. You need to go to bed and I have things to prepare for the upcoming class match._''_I see. Let me know how it goes, okay?_ '

He replies while glancing at his desk, '_Will do. Good night and sweet dreams, kid._' There was no response, but he understood that she had replied in kind. He put his phone away and began his preparations. _After all_, he thought to himself,_ Grandfather always said to be prepared for anything._ _Now, let's see what info I can get on Rin's IS..._

_**-The Class Match-**_

Arthur stood in the control room to Ichika's hangar bay. He was not alone, as the other occupants were his teachers as well as Houki and Cecilia. As Ichika brought up the visual information on Rin's IS, Arthur had already gone over it several times and thought, _While her IS is impressive, the Shenlong does have a few weaknesses. Her cannon is a Mid-Range weapon that can rotate up to a near spherical 360 angle on both sides, making it difficult for any Close-Range combatant to hit her without taking damage. However, it appears that she needs both of them to face the same direction to effectively damage her opponent. If her opponent can outmaneuver her cannon, they would need to contend with her Close-Range capabilities. She wields a pair of blades that can combine to be a dual-bladed weapon with little to no difficulty. _

_The only thing Ichika has going for him is his sword's One-Off Ability, the Reiraku Byakuya, which severely damages his opponent's Shield Points while sacrificing his own. I suppose that if he knew how to use the Ignition Boost, he may have a slight advantage over Rin, but he needs to play smart if he is to avoid the cannon. Knowing him as well as I do, he'll probably take a few hits from them before he can actually hurt Rin._

Arthur looked down at Ichika, whose visage filled with determination as he took off. He watched him fly off to the center of the arena, thinking to himself, _I hate to say this, but I don't think he actually stands a chance against this girl. What's more is that he's fighting against a friend. Though I doubt either one of them would hold back against the other. In fact,_ he noticed as he was looking at the pair and their muted conversation, _something must have happened after I had intervened last night. Whatever it was, it's possible she'll hurt him far more than I had realized._

When the call was made, both Ichika and Rin clashed with sparks of fury upon impact. As Arthur predicted, Rin had brought out one of her melee weapons, a massive blade that had a handle of a decent length with runic patterns along the flat of the blade. _Ah, so it's a battle of blades now? Let's see if Ichika can hold his own..._ Unfortunately for Ichika, the battle so far hadn't been going so well for him.

Rin had so far managed to hold off Ichika's attacks rather well and even took out her second blade, using it with masterful ease. Soon after, they danced around each other in the sky with the occasional clash of steel. Concerned about Ichika's situation, Cecilia had rushed at the view screen that Maya had been using to yell at Ichika to use a technique she had been teaching him, though it proved useless for her to waste her breath.

Ichika's opponent connected the ends of her blades so they faced opposite directions when used. She then rushed at Ichika with a series of swings, making it hard for him to avoid the strikes. He thought to himself, _This is like fighting against Arthur, he would start with a series of close attacks followed by a ranged attack. Does this mean __that Rin will attack from a greater distance?_ He dodged another swing before continuing, _Well then_, _let's test that theory!_

He pulled away from Rin to gain distance while watching for her next move, and Rin grinned while saying, "How naïve!" The two orbs on either side of her had began glowing before firing at Ichika. He narrowed his eyes and thought, _I was right!_ He moved just enough for the bullets to miss but grazed his shield slightly. _Too close!_ He thought before looking at Rin, who was smirking at him before saying, "And that was a jab!" Her cannons began charging up for another attack. They thundered loudly, the focused bullets bursting at Ichika rapidly. He then dropped his altitude until his feet slammed into the arena floor, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"What!?" came Rin's outcry and she wasn't the only one surprised by this development. Even Houki and Cecilia were surprised at how Ichika avoided the attack. Arthur then said, "Well well, looks like someone managed to do their homework." Everyone in the room aside from Chifuyu looked to Arthur, who continued, "During the brief time Ichika and I had fought during the fight for Class Representative, I had done a similar tactic where I would focus a Close-range assault on him until he distance himself from me. From there, I switched to using a Mid to Long-Range attack on him. It worked perfectly against him at the time, since he's only a Close-Range fighter.

"I guess that since he was fighting Rin, he must've came to that conclusion and dodged the Shenlong's Shock Cannon on both occasions when the time was right." "Shock Cannon? Is that was the attack she used?" came Houki's question. Arthur looked to his green haired teacher, who replied, "It's a weapon that manipulates the atmosphere, pressurizing the air and firing at the enemy." Cecilia had understood this and continued while turning look at the large displayed screen, "That's right. The Shenlong is a Third-Generation IS model like my Blue Tears."

Ichika lifted himself slightly to a standing position and thought. _I got lucky with that dodge. If it wasn't for me fighting against A__rthur, I would have a much harder time against Rin._

A target reticule popped up in front of Rin's right eye, focusing on Ichika as she continued to fire at him. He ran as he dodged a series of bullets, each coming close to a hair length of hitting him. As she stopped firing, he held his ground with his sword at a near horizontal level. He shook his head before glaring at Rin, who spoke, "You're doing a good job at dodging. I thought the invisible barrel and ammunition were part of the Ryuho's features. However..."

Inside the room, Maya said as she leaned towards her screen before looking towards the viewing audience, "Somehow, the shock cannon's capable of firing at any angle without limitations because of the barrel's angle of skew." Cecilia said, "So, in other words, there's no blind spot." Maya replied before facing her screen again "That's right."

Houki looks towards the large screen with worry until Arthur added his piece, "While that's true, something bugged me about that." "What do you mean, Hackett?" asked Chifuyu, who finally decided to join the conversation. He gave his teacher a small respectful nod and replied, "While the cannon is capable of attacking at any angle, I had asked myself 'Can both sides operate independently of each other should she take on multiple targets?' I had done some research on her IS the night before, and not only had I noticed that particular oddity, I had also wondered if this oddity would actually weaken the effectiveness of her cannon."

She nodded and said, "While I won't ask on how you managed to obtain information prior to the match, I see your point on this matter. However, it doesn't affect the outcome of this match if she's only fighting Orimura." "My apologies, ma'am. I thought I should give some sort of positive input." he replied as he looked back at the main screen. He watched as Ichika dodged another series of bullets, gliding across the arena. He thought worriedly,_ If I stay too far, she'll hit me with those things and fighting her up close would be pointless. I've got to find a way to beat her with a preemptive strike or she'll win!_ _Focus dammit!_

His eyes widened as he remembered a prior conversation with Arthur and his sister, _That's right. The barrier-disabling attack, the Reiraku Byakuya. I need to use it at the right moment or else I risk losing my own shield points. But the question is,_ he hardened his glare at Rin while wielding his sword with both hands, _can I use it?_ He spoke loudly, "Hey Rin."She replied hotly, "Yeah, what is it." "From here on, I won't hold back." he said determinedly. "What the!? That's what you're supposed to do, you idiot! I'll show you that we're not in the same league!" She spun around with her melee weapon before charging at Ichika, who dodged her attack and fled with her giving chase.

"It looks like Orimura's going to try something." Maya observed, and her fellow teacher responded, "It I were to guess, he's gonna use the ignition boost I taught him." Piqued with curiosity, Cecilia asked, "What's this ignition boost?" Her teacher answered, "It's a surprise attack where you move at maximum speed towards your opponent. The bad news is that it only works once and right now is that chance."

The younger Orimura dodged an incoming hail of firing before flying upwards, dancing around Rin and her cannon fire. As he went back down, he blocked another melee attack and dodged another round from her cannon. Rin looked around angrily as she tried to focus her attention on Ichika, who was able to move faster than she could properly aim at him. When she finally turned to see him, he rushed at her ready to swing his sword at her. She had a look of shock before a bright star shined above the arena dome. A purple light lanced through the barrier, shattering a small section before colliding with the floor with a large explosion.

Holding off on his attack, Ichika looked at the fire in wonder along with Rin, while the majority of the Academy students began to panic with this sudden turn of events. Inside the room, Cecilia looked around in confusion and asked, "What's going on!? What just happened out there?" Houki cried out, "Ichika!" Maya turned to the screen as it flared multiple warning signs, indicating system damage. "It looks like an unidentified object penetrated the arena's deflection shield."

Instinctively, Arthur immediately turned and ran down the corridor towards the pit as Chifuyu held up a radio yelling, "Stop the match! Orimura, Fan, vacate the arena immediately!" Inside the arena, everyone who was watching began to exit the arena through the rear exits as red lights were flashing and large doors began to close in front of them. Ichika looked with concern asking, "What's happening? What the hell's going on here!?" a small image of Rin opened up with her replying, "The match is canceled! Head back to the pit now!" At the end of her demand, a warning sign displayed itself in front of Ichika right next to her: **Heat source detected in stage center/Unidentified IS**

"Another IS?" he asked incredulously as he looked into the fire. Another box appeared with the word **Locked** in front of the previous warning sign. "Wait. Is it locking me out somehow?" he asked as Rin came back. "What are you doing? Go back to the pit!" she said and he replied questioningly, "Go back? And what are you going to do?" He watched as she flew above him and said, "I'm going to buy us some time, so get out of here!" "Wait a second," he started in offense, "There's no way I'm going to leave a girl behind!" "You idiot, you're weaker than me, so you don't get any choice. Now move!" she retorted.

He weakly said, "But..." She looked away as she responds, "It's not like I'm going to fight it all the way until the end. I'm just standing in until one of the teachers take over and handle-" before she could finish, a purple light brightened until it shot through the smoke towards Rin, who looked towards the oncoming attack. Seeing the attack coming, Ichika cried, "Look out!" He tackled Rin out of the way as the attack missed the both of them.

"A beam weapon? And the power output is greater than Cecelia's IS." Ichika noted as he watched the source of the attack appear as the smoke vanished. The IS was mostly black in color, though there were other colors that had merely accentuated the design. It had two larger beam weapons on top of both of its hands with a pair of tubes coming from the shoulders to the rear of the beam weapons. One of the most startling features was that there was five red eyes on the pilot's face, or what could be considered a face.

"Just what is that damn thing? It's certainly not like any IS I've seen before." Ichika said as he and Rin watched this new opponent that stayed in it's center of arrival. A text box appeared next to Ichika's face that read **SOUND ONLY** with Maya's voice coming in, "Orimura, Fan. Please leave the arena at once! The teachers with arrive with their IS and neutralize the situation." Ichika replied, "No, we need to occupy it until the students can evacuate." "I understand how you feel, but you just can't do that!" she replied in earnest, with Cecilia and Houki rushing up behind her shouting, "Ichika, Run!" "Ichika!"

Meanwhile, Arthur was running through the corridor and thought, _Man, of all the times for this to happen. Good thing I made preparations last night. Now, where's the damn door?_ He turned around a corner and made for the door that led to the launch room. He quickly activated his IS, seeing Ichika and Rin avoid an aerial attack from the mysterious IS. He sighed and muttered, "I hope I know what I'm doing. Now Endless Respite, launch!" He took off into the arena and activated his cloaking ability right as he entered the battlefield.

"What was that!?" cried Cecilia and Maya replied as she looked astonished, "It's Hackett! He took off into the arena with his IS! When did he do that?" "Probably when none of us were looking." Chifuyu said and gathered the looks of the other females. She sighed and continued, "It must have been when that enemy IS first landed in the arena." "Please Miss Orimura, allow me to assist as well." Cecilia spoke with a hand to her chest. "I wish I could, but..." the teacher replied, turning to look at the screen with a small visual that showed that the deflection shield had been set to a higher level than before. "The shield is set to Level 4." Houki spoke, with Cecilia adding, "Not only that, but all the doors are locked." She stopped to ponder aloud, "Was that IS the cause of this?" "It looks that way. Right now, we can neither stage a rescue or evacuate."

While this was occurring, the students were pounding on a locked door, unable to leave. In the arena, Ichika stood in a dark smokescreen, suddenly ambushed by the black IS and pushed skyward. Cecilia asked Chifuyu, "Well, what about government support?" "Right now, they have people cracking the system as we speak and we have teachers ready to assist at a moment's notice." The teacher replied stoically, with Cecilia sighing in disappointment. "I guess the only thing we can do is wait then." she said, with Chifuyu adding, "That's right. Even if you helped, you'd only get in the shock troops' way. In any case, there's no reason for you to help." "Wait a second! Just what exactly you're trying to say?" she asked, insulted by her teacher's comment.

Chifuyu explained, "What I mean is that your Blue Tears is geared towards combating multiple opponents on its own. This means that you'd only get in everyone's way. However," she stopped to look at a separate screen that showed Arthur trying to search for the enemy while remaining still. "With Arthur's Endless Respite, he can provide a multitude of roles. And right now, it seems that he's doing something that I find quite questionable for a regular teenager." She noted, with the other three watching in interest.

"What do you mean, Miss Orimura?" asked Houki, her teacher closing her eyes before replying, "Assassination." The other three were taken aback as they parroted the word in confusion. "That's what it appears to be, anyway. Though I can't say that I'm certain on that." she said, looking as Arthur crept along the arena floor, next to the wall quietly. As Arthur watched, he took notice of Ichika's attempt to use his barrier-disabling attack. _Second time then. It looks like he's been careful on using it. Though he's still not very successful. Perhaps I can get it to hold still._ He thought, watching the black IS pursue the other IS pilots while firing from its shoulders. _First, I need to disable its weapons. Maybe a little __**Judgment**__ is in order then. _He finished, bringing out a longsword into each hand. As he readied himself to attack, he noticed how the IS stopped firing, smoke enveloping its form.

Ichika, not noticing Arthur's presence, stopped moving in front of the smoke. He watched it, realizing something unusual. "Hey Rin. Doesn't that IS' movement seem a little too mechanical?" he asked, though she was unsure what he meant. "What do you mean. It is a machine, you know." Her screen appeared next to him as she replied. "That's not it. I'm wondering if there's actually someone piloting that thing." He said as he continued to watch the smoke for movement.

"Wait. An IS won't move unless there's someone piloting it." This she knew, what anyone knowledgeable in the IS world would know. She gasped before heading next to Ichika and stopped, realization apparent. "Now that you've mentioned it. I noticed that she doesn't attack us while we're talking. It's almost like she's curious about our conversation." she said, with Ichika replying, "I know, right?"

She shook her head negatively and said, "This doesn't make any sense. There's no way it can be unmanned. There has to be someone inside an IS for it to move. That's how it is." "But think about it. What if...what if it's unmanned?" he asked, though he was feeling much more confident now. "So what you're saying is that we can beat it if it's unmanned?" she hesitantly asked, and he smiled with a reply, "Yeah. If it's unmanned, we can beat it with everything we have, and it'd be fine for the both of us." "Everything we have?" she asked, still not convinced on this matter.

"_Not to worry you two, I've already performed biometric scans on the IS. It's a drone, alright."_ came a familiar voice. Ichika looked happy and asked, "Is that you, Arthur? Where are you right now?" "_Don't worry, I'm not far from you guys. In fact, once you guys have the plan set up. I'll have this thing held down so it won't get away." _he replied assuredly, and Rin asked, "Hey, isn't he that guy from before?" "Uh-huh. And if he said to not worry about it, then let's take it down." "Ichika!" cried a voice, startling said person and directed his attention over to Houki, who was standing by the edge of one of the hangars.

"If you're a man..." she said, stopping to steady her breath before shouting, "If you're a man, you better defeat that thing completely!" This caught the IS' attention as well, prompting it to raise its main weapons, charging them to fire at her. Seeing this, Ichika turns to his friend and shouted, "Houki, run!" Before if could attack, two white lights whipped out from an unknown source, yanking the unmanned IS' arms and pulled them upwards where no one could get hurt.

It was then lifted into the air before roughly slammed into the earth, kicking up dirt and dust in the process. The IS then began to struggle against the bindings until more white lights wrapped around the torso and both of the legs, further locking it into place. "_Well, it looks like it won't be going anywhere anytime soon._" came Arthur's voice once again, his IS revealed to the pair. "That's his IS?" asked Rin and Ichika said, "That's right, you weren't here when he, Cecilia and I fought for the title of Class Representative." "_As much as I like hearing you guys talk about me, I'd rather have this thing disposed of. Otherwise, this thing's gonna break free and it'll be a pain to restrain it again after it's been caught once._"

"Oh sorry." "Sorry about that." They apologized before Ichika turned to Rin and said, "I'm gonna use the Reiraku Byakuya one last time. Think you can give me a boost?" Rin was affronted and asked, "Just what the hell do you mean by that?" "Simple. Just be ready to fire the cannon on my mark." he replied, while looking back at the black IS. "You know that since it's restrained, I could hit it with no problem." she said incredulously, though Ichika paid it no mind as he stated, "Yeah and that thing can break free at any moment. I'm not taking any chances by having him blasted at when I can just use the barrier-disabling attack to stop it from moving."

She sighed and said, "Well, since you're so determined to kill it yourself, let's do it." When she finished, one of the bindings on the IS snapped clean off of it. "_Guys, now might be a good time to go through with your plan, because this thing __**really **__hates being caught on a leash._" Arthur warned to Rin and Ichika, who yelled at the former, "Rin, do it!" "Right!" she called, beginning to charge her shock cannon. Before she fired, Ichika flew in front of her, blocking her view of the IS. "Hey you stupid idiot! You're in my line of fire!" she berated him, though Ichika was quick to respond, "Just shoot, dammit!" She was briefly startled, but refocused and said, "Whatever, just know that whatever happens, it's not my fault!" she backed up a little ways and fired at Ichika's back. The concentration of the energy was powerful, but Ichika held on long enough for his unit's power to reach its maximum.

Once his machine gave the okay to use the Reiraku Byakuya, the IS gained a fiery aura over it, the sword gaining length by a few inches. He launched forwards towards his intended target and with a mighty cry, he sliced off the enemy's left arm. "Yes!" cried Ichika, though it was short-lived when the bonds restraining the enemy IS broke, allowing the unmanned IS to swing at him. It's attack was met with retribution, as Arthur's IS pulled it away from Ichika towards himself after it struck his fellow male pilot.

As it neared him, Arthur crossed his swords together and muttered, "_**Dual-slash Mod Variance Bravo: Cross of Scaffold.**_" Swinging his left sword, he removed the other arm from the enemy IS, bisecting that same arm with the opposing sword, creating an explosion and damaging the IS. "_Now that it's main weapons have been removed, disposing of this will be much easier. Will you do the honors, Miss Alcott?"_ Arthur asked, to the surprise of the two other females in the arena and a grinning Ichika.

"I would be happy to, Arthur." she replied pleasantly, her drones raining down on the IS with no mercy, its shields dropping rapidly. "_And for the final blow!_" Arthur shouted, with Cecilia shouting, "Roger!" Placing the black IS within her sights, she fired at it with unrelenting power. It struck true, piercing the IS clean through it, creating another explosion from it. After receiving the fatal blow, the IS had fallen back onto the ground. Feeling cautious, Arthur directed Ichika towards the downed enemy IS.

As they both neared it, the IS performed one final lunge at Ichika, intent on taking someone with it. "Oh crap!" cried Ichika, with the other girls crying out for him. Arthur vanished from the sight of everyone as he said, "_**False Movement: Shattered Mirror.**_" With a ringing sound of metal piercing, there were two IS' that looked exactly like Arthur's, each with a sword that had been driven straight through it, the blades facing opposite directions from each other.

The IS slumped over, finally vanquished thanks to the combined efforts of Ichika, Rin, Cecilia and Arthur. Arthur's IS dissipated, along with the copy of himself breaking down like glass, and the original standing upright next to the fallen enemy. He turned to the other pilots that had participated in the endeavor, and began to walk towards them. Arthur stopped as he felt an unusual vibration in his body, suddenly had a sense of foreboding. His instincts were proven correct as his vision grew dark, his body falling towards the earth below. He faintly heard shouts from Ichika and the other females, his consciousness was lost as Ichika was quick enough to catch him into his arms.

_**-Later that day-**_

The afternoon sun was giving off a low lustrous glow as it hung in the sky. Hearing some shuffling noises in his room, Arthur began to stir in his bed. Blearily opening his eyes, Arthur saw a rather familiar ceiling. As his vision began to clear up, he spoke to himself,"I guess I overdid it again. I hope everyone's fine from that attack, though I wonder what happened to that IS." "It's being investigated at the moment." Looking to his right, he saw his teacher sitting down with her arms folded and had her usual glare. "Oh. Afternoon, ma'am. Is there-" He began, but was cut short as she said, "Save it, Hackett. There's no need to act that way because I know you've been angry with me for some time now. So be honest with how you feel."

He sighed as he looked back at the ceiling and replied, "It's true that I've been angry at you recently. It's hard not to when your teachers decide for the betterment of one of their students to tell their past, especially when it's _against_ their wishes to do so." He gripped his sheets tightly and continued,"Not only that, it even feels like I've been alienated by most of the students here in the school ever since they found out." He relaxed his grip and gave a small smile as he said,"Although I guess I can thank Ichika and his friends for still seeing me for who I am now rather than seeing the broken child I once was. But to be honest," He slowly sat up as he looked to his teacher and finished,"I had already planned on telling them about it when I thought the time was right and so far, only Rin seemed to be left out of the loop."

"That does seem to be the case. At any rate, there's something I need to ask you." She stood up from her chair and walked over to the window on the other side of his bed. Arthur watched with curiosity as she put one hand against her side and asked, "Have you received training outside of the Academy?" He looked to the wall in front of him, frowning before he replied, "Well, yes and no." She turned around and looked at him with the same pose.

He glanced slightly toward her before facing the wall once more."While I was never formally inducted into the military, my grandfather had contracted private trainers to cover various aspects of warfare since I had been too young to properly enter the service. Nonetheless, I had at one point undertaken various missions where I'd frequently work with mercenary groups to deal with threats from both without and within the US. However, the only times that would happen was when I wouldn't be in school here in Japan. I never once told anyone what I could do with what I had learned in these past years, mostly to avoid drawing attention to myself.

"The only reason why I said things I did back during my first match was because I felt that all that training I had undertaken would be meaningless if I couldn't use what I had gained to protect others. But with my IS, it felt like I had all the power I needed to protect my family and maybe even my friends as well. But as you can see," he gestured to himself that had been sitting in his bed before continuing,"it came at a small price." She raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Just what kind of price did you pay, Hackett?"

He smiled sadly and said, "Remember when I used the second technique against the IS to permanently shut it down?" "You mean the _**False Movement**_?" she asked. He nodded as he looked down at his hands that were folded together. He spoke as he continued to look down,"Normally, that style is nearly impossible for me to use outside of the IS, due to the physical demands it places on the body and mind. The first technique is called the _**Aura of Phantasm.**_ It's what allows me to freely blend in with my surroundings by subtly reflecting all light away from me from every possible angle. However, the difference from my technique and the standard cloaking device is that I need to visualize the lack of my existence or the existence of others in that very same spot. Also, I can choose to allow other people to see me despite the _**Phantasm**_ being active."

"So that's what you were using during that match." she noted, with him nodding as he began again,"Yes. Though like I said earlier, each technique I use comes at a price. So far the worst effects I get from this one is just terrible headaches or slight dizziness. The second technique was the one you saw during that fight:_** Shattered Mirror**_. For that technique, I willed my body to move fast enough to create an afterimage of me thrusting my blade through my opponent from one side while I copy the motion from the opposite side. Once it ends my afterimage breaks down into nothingness like what happened earlier today."

He winced as he tried to move his legs and continued,"So far, the only negative effect from that rendered me into a state of unconsciousness. As you may have already noticed, each technique comes with more debilitating effects, even to the point of death. Thankfully I haven't been brought to the point of needing to use it. I had been hoping that with the assistance of my IS, the use of my techniques would be less costly, but I fear that the opposite may be true instead."

"If this style is so dangerous for you to use, why are you even using it in the first place, especially when you know you can die from using it?" He looked back up at her, his eyes full of sorrowful determination as he said, "Because that's what it means to sacrifice oneself. If I had the chance to protect the ones I loved at the cost of my life, I would do it in a heartbeat. And I would never regret it no matter how many times I repeat this life, regardless of the changes involved."

"You must be very dedicated to your loved ones if you're willing to go that far. Unfortunately as a teacher, I insist that unless you find a way to overcome these side effects, you are to refrain from using those techniques unless given proper authorization by me or Miss Yamada. Is that understood?" He hesitated for a second before answering, "Yes ma'am." She walked away but stopped when Arthur said, "There's two more techniques I've yet to mention, ma'am." "Whatever they are, they are also prohibited from use as well." She said as she exited the room.

"Ah well. I suppose that she'll realize that she should've stayed to hear about them later." He paused before he smiled and said, "You can come in now." He watched as Ichika and his friends walk in with some trepidation. "I take it you all heard what we were discussing?" he asked as they stood around his bed. "So you were serious about the side effects from using those techniques?" Ichika asked as he looked with a hard expression at Arthur, with him matching it as well.

"Yeah. If I over do it, I could very well die. Being able to pull off superhuman feats like that is no laughing matter. For _**False Movement**_, it's a matter of knowing the best time to use the technique and the reason for doing so." Arthur had replied while stretching his arms and falling back onto his pillow. He sighed as he put his hands over his face and said aloud, "Well, I suppose I should get started then. So, how does everyone feel about listening to a story?"

"Uh..." Cecilia started but Arthur raised his head and asked, "Is there something wrong?" "Well, the last time we were told about your past, most of the students avoided you since they made the connections from what you said before." Ichika said, with the others sans Rin nodding. "I don't get it. Why's everyone so hung up on Arthur's past?" she asked. "It's actually quite simple, really. But I suppose someone of your standing can't even-" Cecilia began to taunt before Arthur shot her a warning look before looking at Rin.

"While I'm sure Cecilia meant well, I would rather not have my past be made in light of at this time. That being said, what Miss Yamada and Miss Orimura mentioned earlier was a rather cut and dry telling of my history." Arthur said, with Ichika, Cecilia, and Houki looking pale as Houki stammered, "That was _cut and dry?_" He nodded as he looked out the window before continuing, "In case you were wondering Rin, my parents died ten years ago, roughly a month prior to the release of the IS, which made that day precisely 2 months before the Shirokishi Incident."

_This_ time, it was Rin's turn to lose all the color off of her face. For her, she still had her parents in her life. Though they we're divorced, she still managed have them for most of her childhood. But to hear that someone had lost _both_ in a single night, it was unthinkable to her. She looked to the others, each of them with saddened faces. Arthur smiled as he looked back at his small audience and continued,"In a small city of Fuyuki, I had only lived there for a few years after arriving from my nation of origin." "Nation of origin? Wait, you mean to tell me that you weren't born in Japan?" asked Rin. The trio next to her were just as astonished about this revelation.

Arthur nodded and replied, "Yeah, I didn't know about that until my 5th birthday. As to my national origin, it's probably better if I reintroduce myself. Though it seems a little weird, I figured I would receive the best reaction if I included some other things as well." "Such as?" Houki inquired, with the rest nodding in agreement. "I will tell you." he replied crisply while looking between the four. He closed his eyes and sighed slightly before reopening them slowly.

He straightened himself on the bed and held his hands together before speaking, "Hello. My name is Arthur Hackett, grandson of Adam Hackett, Admiral of the US Navy's 5th Fleet. I enjoy reading, music, running and operating/maintaining my IS. It is a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to working with you all once again." Dead silence filled the air as Arthur looked at them expectantly, waiting for them to respond.

"Grandson..."

"Admiral..."

"United States..."

"..."

Each of them uttered a word or two, save for Ichika, who had his eyes closed while contemplating the introduction he had just listened to. For the females, they had a look of utter shock before becoming angry. "Why the hell didn't you tell us sooner!?" Houki exclaimed, with Cecilia adding,"Don't you realize how important that makes you look?" Rounding off the trio, Rin shouted, "What kind of idiot hides something like that?" "The kind that doesn't want to be recognized for the achievements of others. The kind that's forced to live up to mendacious expectations placed by the ignorance of others. The _kind_," Arthur paused as he allowed for them to take in his response before continuing,"that wishes to be someone that can be relied upon. Those are among the things that make me _that kind_ of idiot. Besides, if I told you the moment I introduced myself the first time, people would've stopped seeing me for who _I _am rather than just be given a baseless title to appease me while attempting leech off of me."

With this said, the girls had faltered in their rage, having been quelled by each statement made against them and more."Uh, perhaps I'll let you guys ponder on that for a little while. Right now, I'm going to get some more rest before I come back to class the next morning. Night..." Arthur said as he drifted off to sleep. "But-" Rin started, though she was held back by Ichika's hand on her shoulder. He shook his head and said,"That's enough Rin. If that's all he wants to say, then that's fine. We've bothered him enough as it is today." He turned around and began to leave the room. "Also, if there was anything else he wanted to say, he would've said so."

"And what makes you so sure he would tell us?" Houki demanded, her arms crossed with a deepened frown on her face. His head turned to the girls and responded,"He trusted us this much, hasn't he? I mean," he turned his head away and finished,"shouldn't we do the same?" As he left the room, Cecilia turned to the other girls and said,"Ichika has a point, as unusual as it sounds. He helped defeat that unmanned IS earlier today. Not to mention, the boys seem to understand each other quite well." "What do you mean?" Houki asks as she looked to Cecilia for an answer.

She replied with uncertainty in her voice,"I'm not really sure, but just from seeing them interacting with each other, it's almost like they know what the other was thinking at times." As they continue to ponder, another event was occurring elsewhere within the school.

_**-In an unknown lab-**_

The unmanned IS lied idle, above it was various robotic arms, moving over it with careful precision. Nearby the IS was Maya at a computer with multiple screens, typing away on the keyboard in front of her. Behind her stood Chifuyu, who watched the scene stoically while formulating ideas about the mystery IS. "So it really was unmanned." spoke the former as she looked over to another screen that displayed the IS Core from the unmanned IS. "That's really strange." Maya commented, making Chifuyu ask,"Well, what did you find?" Maya replied, "The IS Core is unregistered, and there are only 467 registered cores in the world. So where did this one come from?"

Chifuyu gained a hardened look as she continued to watch the IS that was lying on the table. _Some how, this thing was attempting to gain data on the pilots but failed to do so when Hackett destroyed the components necessary to obtain that data. What was this thing trying to accomplish?_ She thought to herself as she continued looking at the IS.

* * *

_**WA͠R̸Ǹ̡͡I͢N͘G̸!̛̕!҉͠!̷̧͝**_

_**̢M͏҉͝em͟ǫr̡҉y ̨҉B̕͠a̧ń̸k͞͠ ̴̕D͜e͘͝g҉̵ŕ̵e̶d͜át̡io̕n͢ ͟͠à͡t ̶1̢2%**_

_**̛͘L͢a͢un̕͡c̴̀͟hi͘͝n͘g͞ ̷I̡ņ̧i҉̸t͢i̢̛͞a̵̸l̵̨͏ ́́P̧͡͠ŕ̶o̴͜͡ţ̕ȩc̨t̷̨͝i͏҉ó҉n ̨̨P͟r̸͞o̸t̷̛ò͜͞c̴͝ols͢**_

_**̧̛͡W̛A̷RN̛҉̷I͜N̴͞͝G͝!̢҉͢!̵̨!̢̡̛**_

_**̴͢P̵҉r̢̢̀o҉t̴̀oc̡͠͏ol͜ ̶̷͟F̴ài͡l͏ư͏͝r̕͏e**_

_**͢C͞orr͡u̵p̴͠t̶̕͟i͏ò͠n͟͜ ̛a̸̷͝t́́ ̡͠1̡͠0%́**_

* * *

_24Sept13_

_That's chapter 2. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm going to do about the events after the end of the first season of the __anime.__ Although the __light novels, which I'm sure, are much further ahead. Hopefully, that stuff will be animated as well, but it's possible that it won't. Can't win everything, I guess. Any who, r&r. That sort of thing. Let me know what you think. Oh, and in case if you were wondering about the dates, they're the days I completed the chaps, so that can give you guys a somewhat accurate time line of how long it's been taking me to complete each chapter._


	3. Colors

_Chapter Three_

_Colors_

**-_10 years ago_-**

"_But why are we going to France, Grandpa?" I asked the elderly man beside me, who was simply reading a newspaper as we were flying on an unknown plane to said country. "I figured it would cheer you up, going to a foreign country that happens to be an ally to ours among the many others in the UN." replied Grandpa as he turned another page and kept reading. "Do you think I can make new friends in France?" I asked, feeling a little sad that I miss my old friends back home._

_He gives me a side glance before resuming his reading and said, "I'm sure you'll make a new friend by the time we head back home, kid." I look at him with excitement. "You really think so?" I ask while bringing up a large smile, my eyes shining with hope. "Without a doubt. Who knows, maybe you might find that princess you wanted to protect, since you've been going on about being a 'super awesome' knight that beats up dragons and bad guys." He chuckled as I glare at him with an angry expression, my face puffed up while shaking a fist at him._

_I turn towards the window with a huff, trying hide the blush that crept on my face as his chuckles gotten louder from my prior actions. I look down below to see green pastures and various farms. I began to smile again as I kept trying to see as much of the countryside as I could. _'_**Maybe I will find her...**' I thought with curiosity as our plane began to descend._

_**-****A week **_**_later-_**

_I looked around in amazement, seeing all these strange structures for the first time, holding on to Grandpa's hand, pulling him along with the urge to explore. "Where are we, Grandpa?" I asked him gleefully, bouncing around like the silly kid I was. He looked at me in bemusement as I kept poking and prodding him with countless repetitive questions of the same nature. Other people watched with different emotions, some were laughing, some were annoyed or even angry about how noisy I was being._

"_Excuse me." came a soft voice from behind me, I turned around to see a blond woman with an equally blond girl in tow. "It appears that you have quite the rambunctious child, sir." The woman spoke with amusement, while Grandpa chuckled and replied, "He can be a handful, but he's a good kid." She smiled and said, "It looks like you two are new here. Would you like for us to show you around?"_

_Grandpa replied,"I think that's a wonderful idea." He looks at me and asks,"Well, how about it?" I turned to him with a grin. "Yeah!" I nodded rapidly as I looked back at the female pair near us. "Go on." She whispered to the little girl, who looked a little nervous at first, but the woman nudged her toward me. I smile widely and asked,"Hey! Hey! What's your name?" "O-oh. Um, my name's Charl..." she whispered, still seeming to be shy. I paid no mind to this as I replied in a muttering fashion, acting like I was trying the name out, "Charl, Charl, Charl..." She blushed a bit as I continued,"That's such a cool name! The name's Artie!" Her blush lessened a bit as she began to frown at the name._

"_I don't like it." she said with a disapproving look on her face. I made face as I said,"Jeez, it was just a nickname some crazy lady made up anyway. Besides, my real name is Arthur!" She brightened up at that and asked,"You mean like in the stories about the king?" "Uh-huh. My dad gave me the name, though my mom always complained that it was her idea." she giggled at that and said, "Well, my real name is..."_

_**-****Present**_**_-_**

Fluttering my eyes open, I look at the ceiling above me and thought, _An old memory, huh? I wonder if I'll see her again. It's been so long since that day._ I sit up in my bed, slowly taking in the morning rays that shined in my room. _Gotta get ready for class today._ I reminded myself, proceeding the morning routines as I had always done.

_**-****In **_**_class-_**

I sat in my seat quietly, looking out the window as some of my fellow students were chatting in an excited manner. The only thing I heard was someone mentioning a date with Ichika. I ignore this out of annoyance, still feeling a little sore from overexertion due to the fight with the unmanned IS. The class quieted down as Miss Yamada stood in front of the podium with a smile on her face. _This should prove to be interesting..._ I thought, watching with curiosity. "I'd like to announce yet another new transfer student!"_ A transfer student in our class? __Who c__ould it be?_

Looking around, I could see the other students were just as curious as I was, though I wasn't showing it as much compared to the class. The door opened, giving way to the sounds of light footsteps. The first thing I noticed was that the student was wearing sneakers, along with pants above I look up, the clothing turned out to be exactly styled the same as both mine and Ichika. I look at the new student's facial features, taking in the blond hair that was tied off towards the end and that it hung in the back. I also notice the odd colored eyes as well. _Purple isn't exactly a common color for a person's eyes. _I thought, refocusing my attention on the whole body this time.

Before I could continue with my thoughts, the student greeted with a somewhat thick accent,"I am Charles Dunois, and I have come from France. It is nice to meet you all." _A male student from France... __This is very unusual. Wait, is he __**sparkling**__? _Sure enough, I began to notice light shining all around him as if he was radiating beauty. _There's no way..._ I narrowed my eyes as he answered a student's question about his gender, confirming that he's a boy as well as mentioning that there were other males in this school, which led to his transfer here. _I'd like to not jump to conclusions, but this person's firing off warning bells in my head right now. That's no boy, but a girl in disguise. But what possible reason could...Oh_ _**hell no!**_ I came to a painfully obvious realization while the female students began to go crazy over the new student.

_Since Ichika and I are the only **actual** male students, it would make sense for people to obtain data on us. But to go so far as to-_ "Hackett. Orimura." Miss Orimura's voice rang out. I shift my focus to her as does Ichika, though he's more nervous of her at the moment. "Since you're both male students, I want the two of you to assist him with anything he may or may not need here in the school." She said, though something bothered me as I nodded to her instruction. "I apologize if I seem rude, but which room will Charles be staying in since there's now _three_ male students?" I asked, and her immediate response was,"Dunois will be staying with Orimura." I respond just as quickly,"Understood, ma'am." She nodded before yelling at the whole class when they began to increase their insanity levels,"Silence, damn it!"

"Now then," she began after calming down from her shouting and continued,"We'll be doing our first practical exercise with Class 2. I want everyone to be dressed and ready ASAP. Now, get moving girls!" I began to get up and leave the classroom as Charles spoke,"So, you're Orimura. I'm-" he was quickly interrupted by Ichika,"Now's not the time. We need to get to the locker room quickly." "I agree." I chimed in, grabbing the very back of Charles' collar, dragging him out of the classroom. This action stumped the whole class, including said student that had a look of confusion as he was being dragged out. Ichika chased after us, leaving the other students to ponder on the strangeness being displayed.

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Ichika said, having caught up with us after traveling a good distance. I ease Charles back on his feet, him looking at me angrily and said,"I am with him on this. That was very rude of you to drag me out of class." "Hey, I just wanted to avoid hostilities since the girls usually change in the classroom, which allows us guys to change in the locker rooms." I responded with a shrug before continuing to walk towards the lockers. I stopped at the intersection from one hallway to another, sensing a familiar presence. I widened my eyes as scores of girls began to surround us like piranhas to the scent of fresh blood.

"Run!" I shouted, heading towards the new hallway, with the boys following me. They gave chase, rapidly closing in on us. I heard Charles ask,"Why are they making such a racket?" "Probably because we're the only boys that can pilot an IS." Ichika answered. "Oh, that would make sense." Charles said with a look of recognition. _I don't think we can out run them for much longer. Time to go faster..._ I thought to myself.

I slowed down slightly to be near Ichika and Charles. "What're you doing!?" cried Ichika, as I nearly tripped him by mistake. "Hang on guys, this is going to be uncomfortable." I grab their respective shoulders and mutter, "_**False Movement: Echo Step**_." In that instant, I closed my eyes, imagining that our feet were running on clouds, quieting our footsteps to the point of near silence. The other students stopped as the boys began to slowly vanish from their field of vision."Hey, what's going on!?" cried one student as the boys disappeared entirely."Where could they have gone to?" "How did that happen?" All of them were squabbling amongst each other, but they all had the same question in their minds, "_What made them disappear?_"

_**-Locker Room-**_

When I opened my eyes again, we were in the locker room right next to the lockers we were assigned to. I released air I thought I never had, gasping for fresh oxygen that my body desperately wanted. I leaned against my locker, still trying to breathe while attempting to find Ichika and Charles. Much to what little surprise I had, I saw Ichika heaving into a potted plant, with Charles lying on the floor, facing the ceiling seeing the universe above him, dancing within his eyes. "N-never..." I heard Ichika said, pointing at me shakily, still heavily affected by the _**Echo Step**_. He slowly turned around and said, "Never put us through that hell again." "Sorry about that. That was the first time I've managed to use _**that**_ technique without nearly killing a person that was attached to me. You two just managed to come through with minor side effects, no less. So, kudos to the two of you." I said weakly as I tried to move, but to no avail as I stiffened before laying against the locker once more.

Ichika paled as he turned around and began to heave into the same potted plant, with Charles coming to. He looked at me with barely opened eyes and said, "May you be cursed a thousand times over." I barely let out a chuckle as I moved to get changed at a slow pace, but fast enough to grab my uniform from the locker. It didn't take long for us to recover afterward, with me being the first to don my long sleeved upper shirt before adding the pants. Unfortunately, the clothing left the middle area bare for any and all to see. Once I began using my IS, however, it didn't matter anymore, since it had basic armor to cover that area.

"So, now that we're here with enough time to get ready, how about we introduce ourselves to Mister Dunois here?" I offered as I wait for Ichika and Charles to get ready. "Sounds like a good idea to me." He glances at the clock and notices how right he was. "Well, the name's Ichika Orimura, but you can just call me Ichika." he said, and then they turned to me, waiting for my introduction as well. "My name's Arthur Hackett, just refer to me as Arthur." I said, with a curt nod.

Charles paused, giving me a look I didn't recognize, before smiling and replied,"Nice to meet both of you, you may call me Charles." I look at the clock, widening my eyes and said,"We should get a move on, I don't want Miss Orimura disciplining us for tardiness." Ichika looked at the clock and replied,"Oh crap, he's right!" He began to remove his clothes, causing Charles to gasp and turn away. I raise an eyebrow and glanced at Ichika, who just noticed Charles' reaction. "Hey, we're going to be late if we don't change, and like what Arthur said, our teacher has a strict non-tardy policy." he said, with me nodding in agreement.

"Mhm. I will get changed, but would you mind changing the other way, please?" he asked in embarrassment. I nodded, turning away as did Ichika while replying, "Okay, I wasn't going to look, but if you insist." He looks into his locker for a brief second before turning his head Charles and adding, "Just don't-" he looks in surprise as Charles finished dressing himself in his new clothing. "Ah, is there something wrong?" I turned around with curiosity, seeing Charles in his clothes as well.

"Well, it's that you changed really fast. Do you have a secret trick to it or something?" Ichika asked, us watching Charles as he nervously replied, "N-no I don't." he laughed just as nervously as he replied, too. I thought,_ You have _got_ to be kidding me. Why is it I'm the only one who realizes that Charles is faking this whole thing?_ Ichika continues,"Well that's a shame because it's frustrating to put these things on every time, especially since my things keep getting caught." "Your things?" Charles parroted, with me answering without missing a beat, "And _how_."

Part of me relished the fact that Charles face turned incredibly red with embarrassment. _That was too easy._ I thought, while Ichika noticed something odd about the clothing Charles wore. "Wait, yours looks really easy to put on." He noted, with Charles saying, "It's an original made by Dunois." _So that's it, huh?_ I thought with a smile and Ichika asked,"Dunois? Isn't that the same name you have?" "Mhm, my papa is the company's CEO. The Dunois Corporation is the largest IS-related corporation in all of France." _Ding. That's number 2 now..._

"So, you're the CEO's son then. Now it makes sense." Ichika said as he continued to exchange his clothing. "Hm? And what does that mean?" Charles asked. Ichika replied, "Oh, I don't know. You've got class, not to mention that you look like you come from a prestigious family. So, now I get it." He gives a small noise of cheer, but was met with a sigh of disappointment from Charles. I mentally groaned and thought, _Great Ichika. Now you've gone and made the kid unhappy, though this time I can't really blame you for your ignorance this time. Not only that, it looks like the kid's got a sob story too, and as it so happens, I'm a sucker for sob stories._

**-_Later, Training Field_-**

Both classes stood attentively, awaiting the next set of instructions from Miss Orimura. "Your practical training begins now." "_**Right!**_" the students chorused, me included. "First, we're going to need to demonstrate a real battle. Fan! Alcott!" Said girls had replied quickly in succession, with the teacher continuing,"Since the two of you have personal units, I believe you'd gladly volunteer. Move to the front, girls."

The girls were disappointed having being put on the spot, but the teacher whispered something to them and they suddenly changed their tunes by boasting in front of the combined classes. I slightly glanced at Charles, who whispered to Ichika,"What did the teacher say to those girls?" "How should I know?" I refocus as the teacher interrupted the pair upfront by saying, "Don't be so careless. While your real opponent's not arrived yet, I believe I can find a good substitute until then. Hackett!" I look to the teacher in surprise, "Ma'am?" "Bring out the Respite, I'm granting temporary authorization for this demonstration."

The classes looked confused as to what she was saying, with the exception of those who already know or had an inkling as to what she meant. "Uh, ma'am? Isn't that a bit much?" Cecilia asked, feeling a little apprehensive. I voiced loudly, "Understood ma'am!" I walked past the crowd up to the side of Miss Orimura. "I'll only use the most non-lethal techniques against them. But, I suppose they should get a taste of something new..." I said quietly to her. She responded, "I wouldn't worry to much about it, Hackett. They can take whatever you dish out at them."

"Okay, I just don't want to be responsible for any serious injuries they may get." I said before sighing. _It's alright, two opponents that can't even work together. This should be alright._ I thought, swinging my right arm over to the winged pennant over my heart. With a resounding chiming of bells, I was basked in white light before standing in my IS. I smile as I look to the girls, who brought out their units as well. The students began chatting excitedly amongst each other. I looked at them curiously before shrugging and taking off, with the girls in tow. "Just for your information, this battle won't be like last time." Cecilia said, with Rin adding,"We won't lose to you!" "_Might as well get to it then._" I muttered to myself within my helmet.

The girls take off in different directions, with me flying backwards to gain distance. _Okay, recap time. Cecelia's IS is primarily Long-Range, while Rin's IS is Short to Mid-Range. The only things I have to worry about the most are the drones and the Ryuho. Otherwise, this is good practice for dealing with multiple opponents. Now, let's see if I can knock down two birds with a single stone._ I thought, dodging the drones and the blasts from the Shock Cannon. I summoned a pair of grenades in each hand while I mentally commanded my wings to protect me from the hailing of gunfire.

**-_Meanwhile_-**

The two classes watched in awe as Arthur effortlessly avoided any attack from severely damaging him. However, they noticed the amount of times he had been able to easily avoid the attacks grew fewer, each time was becoming a close call. "Something's not right." Ichika said, with Charles asking, "What do you mean?" "This isn't like him at all. He's dodging the attacks just fine, but he would've gone on the offensive by now. He must be planning something..."

**-_Back to the fight_-**

I managed to dodge another attack before thinking, _Man, I have no idea what I'm doing right now. All I need to do is wear them down until their actual opponent gets here._ I block an attack from the Ryuho with my shield before side rolling an attack from Cecilia. _I've got it! Let's make it a tad brighter for them!_ I throw the grenades, which happened to be flash bangs, set to explode upon detonation regardless of the source of ignition.

Cecilia made the foolish mistake by sending her drones out to destroy them. Realizing my plan, Rin called out to Cecilia, but was too late as I set them off, causing the female pilots to become blinded and disoriented. I spoke quietly,"**False Movement: Echo Step.**" I immediately vanish as the bright light faded, allowing the pair to regain their vision while still having trouble hearing anything. They were looking around for me while I silently landed behind the pair. "**Fragmented Focus.**" They quickly turned around to see several copies of me hovering behind them. We all spoke as one in a slow, long, and haunting manner, "_**Side by side, we march as one...**_" Each of us summoned a different sword of various lengths and sizes, whether they were held in one of either hand or both hands. As held our swords, we brought our blades facing the sky above with the flat side facing both ourselves and towards them. "_**We fight 'til all are none...**_" was our next verse, unnerving the girls. "What on earth are they talking about?" asked Cecilia. "I don't know, but it's creeping me out." replied Rin.

"_**Our foes shall fall as rain...**_" came the third verse, and then we launched ourselves at them unrelenting, each swing was quick, decisive as well as deliberate. Our assault grew faster and faster, forcing the girls on the defensive, never allowing them room to retaliate. However, Cecilia's drones came to their rescue, forcing us back and giving her enough space to use her rifle. "_**Even as we ****toil**** in pain...**_" as this fourth verse was spoken, a few copies vanished into dust from being blown through by Cecilia's rifle. "_**And with our Blades that shatter with Shields that sunder****.**_" I successfully damaged Rin's shields with a powerful blow with my sword, sending her to crash against Cecilia. The impact stunned the both of them, preventing them from attacking at the moment.

"_**As we cry with voices of thunder, we sing**__**...**_" The remainder of us encircled the pair, our swords lowered past the horizontal level at a 45 degree angle. Soon after, each of us began to shine with flowing silver light. The girls recovered quickly and immediately went to a defensive position having observed this new spectacle. Each version of myself, including me, brought our swords to our sides as if we had sheathed them while maintaining a strong grip.

In the front of my screen, multiple boxes started to pop up, including one that said: _**One-Off Ability Ready**_. As we prepared to swing our swords, they began to glow a dark green color. "What's happening to them? Is this...?" Cecilia asked her partner, with her replying,"Yeah, this is exactly like what Ichika did the other day when he used his Reiraku Byakuya." Their conversation ended when they heard the sound of air inhalation coming from our glowing forms.

Just as we exhaled, each of us swung simultaneously, but no visible light was released from the blades. However, what came was sound that began low and started to grow until the spectators below were able to hear this new sound. But this sound was unusual, as if it was the sound of voices. Voices that actually became singing from a chorus. Though no known words were spoken, they had an extraordinary uplifting mood to it. As the invisible chorus grew louder, the sounds of instruments became just as noticeable. "Wait a minute," Rin started, and the pair weren't only ones who would comment on this phenomena.

_**-Training Ground-**_

"Is that _music_!?" Ichika asked as the rest of the students were awestruck by this as well. "So that's his One-Off Ability, huh?" Chifuyu commented to herself as she gave a small smile as familiar music began to play. I grinned as we shouted the name of our One-Off Ability, "_Herald of Dawn__!_" The music exploded from our blades in harmony, unleashing powerful waves that began to overwhelm Rin and Cecelia's IS units. "This is my pride! As a debt of gratitude, I present you a small piece from one of the greatest musicians in human history, this is from Beethoven's 9th Symphony!"

The displays from their IS' began to flash wildly, which lead to the units to malfunction at a rapid pace. "Why's this happening to me again!?" cried Cecilia as her drones stopped responding to her commands and dropped towards the earth. I watched as their units began to shutdown as well, which then caused them to drop like flies. As soon as they were out of direct range of my music, the IS' began to power back up and the girls were able to regain control as they reached the ground. As the girls were ready for round 2, Miss Orimura said,"I believe that's enough, your real opponent will arrive shortly, so I expect you to be ready for when she gets here."

I ended the music as soon as they got out of range, following them rather quickly, though I stopped when I heard screaming from behind me. I turn around to see a green blur slam into me, sending both of us into the ground together. After the dust-filled explosion made from the impact vanished, I look up to see the front of Miss Yamada lying down on my chest. I could feel her pressing against me as she tried to move, while I tried my best to act like I hadn't noticed any _particular_ things were affecting me. "Oh, Hackett. Are you alright?" I just noticed how close she was to my face.

"Er, I'm alright. Perhaps I'd be better if you weren't on me ma'am." I replied, though feeling extremely uncomfortable by this awkward situation. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized, removing herself off of me and somewhat laughed. "It's fine Miss Yamada." Not long after, Miss Orimura had Miss Yamada fight against Rin and Cecilia, though they lost rather quickly to a well placed grenade that sent them spiraling into the earth. Of course, the pair had argued over whose fault it was, but Miss Orimura had said something about respecting the skill of their teachers. Somewhere in the middle of it all, I listened to Charles' explanation of the Raphael Revive model that was made by his family's company and that was currently in use.

"Now then, for the first phase of practical training, you will be formed into teams. Those with personal units will be the group leaders, so get to it already!" Naturally, Ichika was the first to be surrounded by the female students. Then another group surrounded Charles and I respectively, though only there were fewer for me to guide as the remaining students went with the other pilots as well as the teachers. Things had gone rather smoothly until the girls in the groups with male leaders all started to bow with their hands stretched out toward us with the usual 'pick me!' thing.

_I swear, these girls are so odd._ I thought, picking a random girl to enter the training IS. "Alright, make sure to have the IS in the kneeling position every time we rotate." I said to the student, whose name escapes me at the moment. As the next girl enters the IS, I glance over at Ichika to see him carrying Houki up into a training IS. _Huh, wonder what could have happened there..._ I thought, facing the next student that was ready to enter the cockpit.

_**-Lunch-**_

The six of us were sitting on the roof with most of us with our own handmade meals. "What's going on here?" Houki asked lowly and Ichika answered,"Well, the more the merrier, right? Besides, Charles is still new to the school and he doesn't know his way around unless Arthur or I are there to help him." "I guess, but..." Houki replied as she angrily stared at the other girls that were with us. I noticed the girls bringing out their food with a sense of hesitation.

"Uh, Ichika? Are you sure it's a good idea for me to join you here?" asked Charles, and he happily replied,"Don't be silly, Charles. Of course it's fine. Besides, we boys should stick together since we're going to be roommates from now on." Charles looked relieved as he said, "Oh, I'm so touched. You're a really sweet guy, Ichika." I released a short snort as Ichika looked shocked and had a very small tinge of pink on his cheeks. Rin noticed this and demanded,"Mind telling why you're blushing?" Ichika steadfastly denied the accusation, though it didn't satisfy her and simply continued on with grabbing her lunch.

"Ooh, sweet and sour pork!" he exclaimed, as he gazed at Rin's lunch. _It does look good. _I thought, looking down at my container. Shrugging, I open it to see a pair of triangle shaped sandwiches, along with a bowl of strawberries that was covered with saran-wrap next to it. "Ah, it's gonna be a good day..." I said to myself, grabbing one of the sandwiches and pulling it out. "Oh that's right, I made BLT's using toasted sourdough bread this time." I muttered as I inspected the contents, which garnered the attention of everyone else around me.

"What kind of sandwich is that?" Ichika asked, with Cecilia adding,"Yes, do tell us Arthur." "Uh well, this is a BLT sandwich. It has bacon, lettuce and tomato as the basic ingredients. For the bread, I used sourdough bread and lightly toasted the exterior of the slices for the extra crunch to it. Though you can use just about any kind of bread for this type of sandwich. I've even made one of those sub sandwiches once and it turned out great. However, it wouldn't be very practical to be bringing that kind of sandwich to school every day." I replied, though I had rambled a bit in the process.

"Also," I added as I reached inside and pulled out the bowl full of strawberries for everyone to see. "I have these strawberries, too. I'm kinda nutty for them, since I've been eating them since I was little." I scratched the back of my head and chuckled a little. "Well, does anyone want one? I have enough for all of us to share." I offered to the group, but all had politely declined. "Oh well, more for me." I said, devouring the fruit one by one, unaware of their miscellaneous antics taking place.

**_-Night (Third __Person__ POV)-_ **

In Ichika's room, both he and Charles were sitting at a table enjoying tea. "Man, it sure is better with two guys in here, huh?" Ichika said, with Charles saying,"This is quite different from the European tea I'm used to, however it is quite excellent." Ichika nodded and sipped from his cup. Charles hesitated for a moment and asked,"I understand that you have been having your IS training done after school. Is this correct?"

"Yea, and it was thanks to Arthur I've been able to keep up with the rest of the class, but I still have a lot of work to do to avoid falling behind." he commented. Charles leaned in and asked,"So would it be alright if I start training with you? I may be of some help since I have my own IS." Ichika leaned back and said, "I don't have a problem with that." Charles nodded with a smile on his face with a reply,"Okay, it's a deal!" "Besides, I'm sure Arthur will want to join in too. I've never really seen him train, so I'm kind of curious as to what he does." Ichika added.

In his room, Arthur was reclining in his chair, facing his television he propped up on his desk (when he made room for it). Armed with his gaming console and controller, he placed the CD in the console tray before allowing it to be pulled in to the system. Looking over at the case, he smiled slightly before facing the screen. _It feels nice playing this game again...Now let's see if I still have that old file Alisa and I shared whenever we'd play together._ he thought, looking at the screen with the name of the title displayed: _Final Fantasy X_. "Okay, it looks like everything's still here. Got the items, most of the relics...crap I forgot about the damn lightning event too." he sighed in annoyance and continued,"Got that Monster Arena and the bonus monsters too. At least it won't be too difficult..."

_**-2 hours later-**_

Arthur's left eye was twitching as he watched his party members get sprayed with thousands of needles and promptly dying. "I _hate_ those damn cacti..." he growled as his last party member stood with about 6000 hit points left, thanks to the use of a Phoenix Down. As he thought of gruesome ways to murder the infantile sized cactus, a knock was sounded on his door. Pausing the game, he walked up to the door and opened it to see his green haired teacher standing there.

"Ah, good evening, ma'am. Is there something wrong?" he asked. She replied,"Not at all. I'm here to inform you that you'll be receiving a new roommate!" He raised an eyebrow and asked,"Are you sure that it's okay to have both a male and a female student share the same room?" "I understand the concern, but it appears that your roommate has no issues with the situation." she chirped. "Alright then. I take it that she will be in class tomorrow morning?" He asked carefully, wary of this new development unfolding itself before him.

"She is, but she requested that she would like to move in immediately." she replied, and he internally cringed at the thought of this new roommate. "_I have returned with my things._" a new voice entered the conversation. Arthur shifted slightly to get a look at his new roommate by leaning a little forward. She was somewhat shorter than he was, though her height was similar to Rin's, so it made sense. Her hair had a dark silver color to it, some of it covering what looked to be a black eye-patch with minor red lining as well, opposite from her single, visible red eye.

Arthur noticed how the lower part of her uniform was quite large, mostly it seemed that the leggings had managed to keep them in place. _Why is it that I wind up meeting girls with unusual clothing?_ The boy thought bemusedly, observing this newcomer with curiosity. "Ah, this is your new roommate, Laura Bodewig." Miss Yamada said, gesturing to the girl beside her. "It is nice to meet you, Miss Bodewig." He said to his roommate and she responded "_Likewise. You must be Arthur Hackett, yes?_" He nodded with a smile and said, "That's correct. I apologize if the room seems untidy. I wasn't expecting any new roommates for some time."

As he spoke this, he turned to the side to allow Laura to navigate the room. She looked around with both curiosity and criticism. She took notice of the console and the game that was paused at the moment. "_An interesting game. I inquire as to its name._" Laura stated as she looked at the screen with her single eye. Arthur replied gently, "I'll be sure to tell you once you're settled in. Agreed?" "_That is acceptable._" She turned and left the room to grab whatever items she brought with her. "Well alright then. Be sure to let me know if there's anything the two of you need, okay?" Miss Yamada asked, with us turning down the offer kindly as we continued on organizing the room. After taking care of her things, the girl waited as Arthur reached for the case that had been left on his desk. He held it before her, its name and image for her to observe. She grasped it, pulling it close to herself as Arthur let go of the item. A terrible mistake on his part, as Laura tossed it at the wall, watching it sail rapidly in the air with little interest. Arthur was quick to snatch it before it made contact with the wall.

He turned to her with a look of wariness, one that came with experience of growing up in a pseudo-military setting. As he watched her, he beheld the gaze of his roommate, one that had cold, hard anger and contempt. "_Disgusting_." She murmured, glaring at him with a look that would've ended his existence there and then. "What is?" Arthur asked carefully, trying to wrack his brain for the sudden change in demeanor.

"_To think I share a room __with a male that has__ such...despicable, unnecessary trinkets._" Arthur looked at her curiously as he responded, "Really? It looked like you wanted to know about the game. My mistake then." Setting the case down, the boy made sure the data was saved before properly stowing the equipment into the vacant spaces he had placed for them earlier. "I'm going to bed now, we should get some sleep tonight so you can introduce yourself to the class tomorrow." Arthur suggested, moving the sliding mini wall to change into his pajamas, which only consisted of a long sleeved black shirt and loose, gray pajama bottoms.

Arthur slid the mini wall back in, not even noticing the fact that Laura was in the middle of changing her clothes as well. He turned away just as Laura turned and looked at his backside as he entered his bed. "Oh, I've got a question for you." He said, facing towards the window side of the room. She narrowed her one eye and asked,"_What do you want?_" He sighed and asked,"I was thinking that maybe we should talk more or something. Wait, that's not the question..." Laura became curious as to what he was blabbering about. "W_ell? Out with it._" She urged in an annoyed fashion.

Arthur sat up in his bed slowly, still not looking at her as he asked, "You came from Germany recently, correct?" The girl was puzzled by this question of his, thinking of it to be of little consequence as she replied, "_Yes. What of it?_" He breathed out a sigh and said, "Figures this sort of thing happens. Alright, I'm gonna turn around now, are you done changing?" She gave a quick reply, "_Affirmative._"

He turns around, looking at her with conflicting feelings and said, "Look, here's the thing. I already knew a pilot from your country would be here at some point in time. This is mostly because I (from an unknown source) found out about the dedicated IS unit from Germany that Miss Orimura had taught for a year some time in the past because of the incident during the Second Mondo Grosso." He stopped as he watched for any emotional reaction, but only saw a vague hint of various emotions that were kept in check.

Seeing as she was okay for him to continue, he pressed on,"Obviously, I had the feeling that your anger might have stemmed from the fact she left you to return here. Not really sure how exactly, but I figured that someone of her skills would've been a far greater asset to your unit, am I correct on this assumption?" He watched as she struggled to reply,"_Y-you are not wrong on this._" He nodded and said, "So I guess the only thing that could possibly bother you is that there's something about Miss Orimura that makes you so angry. Care to share?"

She stood there for a brief moment, silently debating on whether or not she should tell him. "I'm willing to share a bit of myself, if only to be fair..." He added in a somewhat helpful manner. She gave an assenting nod and replied,"_Alright._" He gave a mental pat on the back as he silently congratulated himself for convincing her to tell her story.

_**- a few minutes later-**_

"Interesting." He said, getting up to walk to the window. "_What is?_" she queried as she observed his movements with a calculating eye. "The fact that you're holding a silent grudge against Ichika for making his sister 'soft', as you were to describe it." He ignored any reaction she might have had at the moment and said,"What's just as interesting is that you are determined to removed this 'weakness' that Miss Orimura, your former instructor, has by getting rid of Ichika, if this is what I am assuming to be correct?"

She nodded fiercely at this question. He let out a long sigh and turned around to look at her square in the eye. "I believe you are going about this entirely wrong, Miss Bodewig." She growled and was about retaliate, but was stopped as Arthur held up a hand to gesture that he had more to say. "What's wrong is that you have a misplaced sense of what strength is. This 'strength' is what could drive you down a path I believe one day you cannot escape from once you enter it."

"_What are you trying to say?_" she asked dangerously, her ire coming to rise once again, but was stopped as Arthur asked,"Have you ever stopped to consider that Ichika's the only reason she became strong in the first _because_ she had the desire to protect him? Isn't that similar to what she told you, that she was only strong because of him?" He watched as she recoiled in surprise at each point of reasoning he gave.

"While I do not doubt that you are strong, having come from a large military background, it's that same background that's blinded you to the ideas of family and the will to protect each other, rather than being the strongest one by defeating the competition. While I sympathize the fact that you had no purpose to go on when you were not able to be compatible with an IS at the beginning, but you also had someone to help push and guide you to become an elite again. Perhaps it's time you find your own path, and not follow in the shadows of someone else."

Laura stood silently with her head down, unsure of what to say to Arthur. He walked to her and said,"Look, I understand that none of this is making sense to you right now, having just recently come here and up until now you've met someone who's telling you that everything you know isn't right, but the best thing you can take from this is to be more open minded to the world around you. While life isn't perfect, try to make the most of it while you can. Even I'm not perfect. I've made mistakes in the past..." He trailed off at the end, looking a little saddened.

With a heavy sigh and a slight clench of his hands, he spoke,"Ones I regret greatly, but don't let that tell you what you should do or not do. As long as you believe what you are doing is right, then you'll do okay." He sat on the edge of the bed, allowing Laura some time to digest this new piece of information. _I hope she doesn't lash out at me for all of this. I'm only trying to help her so she won't hurt herself later on._ He thought, looking at her with some trepidation. She looked at him with a serious look and said,"_If what you say is true, how can I know for sure you're not wrong?_" He shrugged and replied,"Like I said, it's entirely up to you how you want to live your life. If the truth is what you seek, then ask Miss Orimura. If you want to understand what strength means to another person, ask Ichika. After all that, talk to me if you still have any doubts." She nodded and proceeded to enter her bed for sleep. She paused before speaking, "_There is one thing I would like to know._"

Arthur nodded and asked, "Yes?" "_Why go through the trouble of trying to convince me that I am wrong? Even if you were wrong, why would you want to tell me any of this?_" He smiled forlornly as he gazed back to the night sky replying, " Well, that's two things but I'll treat it as a singular. I guess you could say...You and I are very much alike. Strong in ways we were raised and taught how to be without any real meaning behind it and yet, we are more broken than a shattered mirror could ever hope to be." No response was given as she turned away and crawled into her bed, resting up for what would occur in the morning. Arthur quietly descended under his sheets and began to dream another dream, yet it wasn't at the same time...

_**-10 years ago, France-**_

"_Ha ha! I have slain another evil-doer! No one can match the power of Sir Arthur!" The young boy shouted with as much might as he could muster at the moment. Holding his fake sword in the air, standing with one foot on his fresh victim, which happened to be a carved pumpkin. Behind the child was a giggling voice, which was none other than Charl, holding a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle them. Arthur turns around with smile as he declared, "Never fear, my fair maiden! I shall protect you as the duty of a knight!"_

"_Oh brave sir knight, I thank thee for slaying the evil King Pumpkin! How can I ever repay you?" she asked while having the back of one hand on her forehead in an exaggerated manner. Arthur was about to reply when he heard her mother calling them to come inside the house. "C'mon, Charl!" he said, grabbing her hand and ran towards the dainty little cottage over the next hill. As they made it to the cottage, the boy saw Grandpa standing by the door with a sad smile on his face. Arthur slowed down in confusion as he asked,"What's wrong, Grandpa?"_

"_It's time to leave..."_

_**-Present-**_

_Another memory?_ He pondered, holding his head with one head as he tried to shake off the pulls of eternal bliss. He glanced over to see his roommate's side to be gone, having opted for the shower in the morning. _Might as well get dressed and ready for class. I'm kind of curious as to how she'll introduce herself..._ he thought, finishing the reorganization of his bed back to its original state. In a matter of minutes, he dressed himself in his school uniform as he heard the shower turned off.

_Perhaps I should leave a note for her..._ He mused, gathering his things before beginning to head out the room and said as he passed by the bathroom,"I'm heading out now, I'll see you in class." "_Understood_" was her reply, and he left the room and closed the door behind him. Not long after, Laura had dressed herself in her school uniform and was about to leave when she spotted a piece of paper on the door. _Do something surprising today, it might be worth it. -Arthur._ _Something surprising, hm?_ Laura thought as she grabbed the note and crumpled it, tossing it over her shoulder into the air, landing squarely in the trash can.

-_**Classroom**_-

Students were whispering amongst themselves, Chifuyu stood by in silence with her eyes closed. Maya looked somewhat confused (or nervous) as she spoke to the class,"I have another exciting announcement. We have an extra addition to our expanding classroom today! Meet the new transfer student from Germany, Laura Bodewig!" The students were rightly unsure about the situation, causing them to talk loudly. "Please be quiet everyone, her introduction isn't over!" Maya cried out to silence the class.

Chifuyu gave her piece to the statement,"Yes. Go ahead, Laura." "_Yes, Instructor._" Ichika was a little surprised that there would be a student that was previously taught by his sister. "_I am Laura Bodewig_." she said to the class, but gave nothing else when Maya had asked her about it. Laura looked over at Ichika and said, "_So you must be..._" She walked over to the front of his desk and gave a quick once-over before reaching into her right pocket with her respective hand.

Pulling her hand out, she held a black glove and fitted it on the same hand she grabbed it with. _I wonder what she's up to..._ was Arthur's thought as he watched this new spectacle with curiosity, along with the rest of the class. Once that was done, Laura quickly back-handed Ichika across the face. Most of the class gasped in shock, while others were not as surprised._ Ho? Did I get through to her? _ His mind echoed, watching to see what Laura would say. "I don't approve of you. In fact, I will never accept that you're her brother..." spoke the silver haired German. _Huh, so she still doesn't believe me...Then let's see how this goes._ Arthur realized as he sat back and allowed for chaos to spring forth.

-_**Later that day-**_

_This has to be the most amusing thing I've seen from the trio._ Arthur thought, watching as Houki was swinging her arms around, complete with sound effects. Rin was talking about some random nonsense, while Cecilia was trying to explain the steps to perform defensive maneuvers. Unfortunately, all three of them were doing this at the same time in front of Ichika. Soon enough, "I don't get this!" he shouted, with each of the girls angrily replying to his confusion. So far, Arthur was the only other person among the group who had his IS deployed.

"So, Ichika. Ready for our match?" Queried Charles, having just arrived in his personal unit, which happened to be a Raphael Revive, thought the color scheme was the only difference compared to the IS Miss Yamada had used the day prior. "You're on!" he shouted before turning to the girls and said, "I guess I'll see you later." They weren't so happy about being ignored. Arthur muttered, "Now let's see what Charles can do." He silently watched as Ichika made the first strike, which was blocked by Charles' shield. Pushing him back, Charles took off into the air with Ichika tailing him. Quickly turning around, Charles deployed a sub-machine gun into his right hand and began firing at Ichika, forcing him to evade the attack.

_I see, so Charles primarily relies on burst Mid-Range weaponry to make his opponents move where he wants them to._ Arthur noted, watching as Charles dodges a reckless swing form Ichika. The blond boy then brought out an Assault Rifle, quickly damaging Ichika's Shield Points. He tried to deflect them as much as he could, but ultimately lost against Charles. Not long after, the two of them stood at the edge of a launch ramp, talking to each other. Arthur caught up to them just as they were discussing the One-Off Ability. "That's right, I remember Arthur telling me about it the other day. So far, the Reiraku Byakuya has an insanely high damage output, but at the cost of the unit's shield energy. But Arthur's One-Off Ability is much different." Ichika said, as another screen popped up next to his, showing a freeze frame of Arthur and his sword glowing in their respective colors.

"It is indeed." Arthur chimed in, landing to the right of Ichika. He continued as he glanced at the picture of himself,"The difference is that I use the power of resonance to disable my opponents rather than to outright destroy their shields." "Resonance?" Ichika asked, curious as to what he meant. "Basically what that means is that I had used the vibrations (when at certain frequencies) that makes music at a much larger scale to cause the internal systems to be disrupted long enough to shut them down. Or easier to say, put them to sleep. Kinda makes sense if you think about it."

"But didn't the IS' you used the One Off Ability on power back up as soon as they were out of range of it?" asked Charles. Arthur nodded and replied, "Yeah, that's one of the drawbacks of the Herald. If an opponent is able to avoid it or recover quickly enough, it can leave me wide open to other attacks. But since this is the first time I've used it, I haven't been able to test it to see if it can affect an ally's IS as well whether it can potentially boost their capabilities or like what happened yesterday. And that means I need to avoid using it unless I know for sure it won't hamper a fellow pilot's IS."

_**- a few minutes later-**_

A series of holographic targets lined up next to each other on the other end of the arena, each of them with different colors that depicted the number of points for the area the color represented. Arthur stood to the side as Charles handed his rifle to Ichika. "Alright, let's try it again." Spoke the blond boy as he held his rifle, but stopped as Ichika said, "Wait, I thought I couldn't use another unit's equipment?" Charles replied, "Normally, that would be the case. However, if the original owner unlocks the equipment..." "Anyone could use it as long as they're registered with that equipment, right?" Ichika finished, with Charles nodding and said, "I believe that's close enough."

Arthur smiled as Charles continued to assist Ichika on the proper shooting stance. Realizing something was off, he glanced around and saw the girls watching the other boys with some amount of jealousy. He shook his head as he looked back and saw that Ichika had just finished his practice shooting with a final score of 50 points. "Not bad, Ichika." Arthur said as he looked over at Charles and asked, "Would it be alright if I try it?" "Hm, I don't see why not." Charles said as he nodded to Ichika, who passed it to Arthur.

Taking it with a gentle grab, Arthur moved a little to the right as he positioned himself into a kneeling stance. Taking his right knee, he placed it on the ground while keeping his left bent at a ninety degree angle and held the gun the same way he watched Ichika holding it. "What is he doing?" asked Charles, looking to Ichika for an answer. To his dismay, Ichika had no answer to give because he himself did not understand what Arthur was doing. "Alright, tilt the head to the left, center the target and pull the lever." Arthur muttered as he quickly aimed at the refreshed target.

With a loud bang, he fired and destroyed the center most portion of the target on the far right. "Whoa, since when was he that good?" asked Ichika as Arthur continued to fire rapidly, consecutively destroying the other targets with the same precision. As the final target was obliterated, Arthur stood back on both feet to see his score was much higher compared to Ichika's own. "Huh, I guess I still got it. Hm?" He turned to see looks of amazement from both Charles and Ichika.

"Er..." Arthur said awkwardly, unsure of the attention he was receiving at the moment. "A-anyway, here's your gun Charles." Said boy made an 'Oh!' noise before retrieving the weapon and kept it at his side. While this was going on, there was series of noises from a group of girls that garnered the attention of the boys. Up on the nearest platform, a fully deployed IS stood still, as if basking in the sun's rays. While its primary color was pitch black, what made it stand out was its red and gold trimming. It shifted slightly to the side to reveal Laura Bodewig, the IS' pilot with her visage for all to see.

With a huff, Cecilia tersely states, "It's Laura Bodewig." Rin, only heard of her recently, asks, "The contender from Germany that slapped Ichika? What does she want?" Houki could only watch as the inevitable confrontation took place. Despite her anger, she was just as concerned for Ichika's well-being as the other girls were. Glancing over at Arthur, she noticed how calm and calculating he was as he observed the new arrival.

_Oh? Quite the impressive machine she has..._ was Arthur's thoughts as he crossed his arms, eyeing the IS with appraisal. "Ichika Orimura!" she shouted at the boy next to Charles. "That's me. So what's up?" Seeing the Byakushiki for the first time, she replies, "So you have a personal machine? Good to know. Now fight me!" "No way, there's no reason for me to fight." he said, turning away from her.

"Maybe you don't, but I do!" she says with contempt in her voice. "Perhaps it would be for the best you fight him when the tournament comes up, Laura." Arthur interjected, causing those around him to look in surprise. Ignoring them, he continues, "In the mean time, I will gladly fight you right now." "I'm afraid not." she replies, her rail-gun lowering down as it pointed straight at Ichika. "_**It wasn't a suggestion, Bodewig.**_" he replied darkly, hovering right in front of her, his sword pointed straight at her. Surprise overtaking her, she quickly looked to see him still standing in the same spot and looked back to see the other one that pointed his weapon at her. "What kind of IS is this!?" she demanded as she kept her eye on both of them warily. "_**One that's not meant to be taken lightly.**_" he replied, still keeping his sword within her visual range.

"Fine then. I'll let you escape today." she said, dismissing her IS before walking away. Arthur dismissed his IS and his illusion shattered, leaving the girls to question Ichika as the former's eyes followed after Laura. _She was avoiding me. Something doesn't feel right._ Arthur thought, turning around as he hopped back down. "Everyone okay?" he asked, and the group nodded. "Now then, I think it's for the best that we head back to our dorms for the day." Arthur said, walking away towards the locker rooms. As he was walking away, he said, "Oh, and guys." The other boys listened closely as he continued, "There's something I'm going to need to discuss with the two of you tonight, so don't go to bed too soon, alright?"

_**-Late Afternoon-**_

Arthur stood in his room, looking out the window as the sun was shining with its hazy glow, began to hum to himself quietly. _Is her need for vengeance that strong, or is it because she's conflicted on whether or not she wanted to confirm what I told her? If I hadn't interfered, would she have gotten her answer?_ He asked himself, closing his eyes as he muttered, "_To the depths of Despair, I have been sent..._" Not hearing the door open, he continued,"_No one was saved, and to their graves, perished and dead. All on my head, because of me._"

On the other side of the room, Laura had heard him talking to himself, but the way he spoke didn't sound remotely close to an average conversation. Opting to remain quiet, she listened as her roommate's voice began to grow louder at a steady pace."_Those I have failed, feel my betrayal. The final nail, hammered by me. I didn't mean what was done..._" _What on Earth is he talking about?_ She wondered, processing his words carefully as he spoke his final verse, "_If I could turn back the time now, I'd sacrifice my own life for him. Why not me? _"

"You can stop hiding, Laura." he said, making her stiffen in surprise. She walked tenderly over to him as he said, "I take it that you spoke to Miss Orimura today?" Laura didn't reply, still angry and hurt from having spoken with her earlier. "I guess that's a yes then. So, was anything I said correct when you talked to her?" he asked, and again she did not reply to him. He sighed as he said, "Look, I get that things didn't work out for you after the confrontation with both of the Orimura siblings, but this is reality. You'll never get to have her back in Germany again. She'll still be here teaching the students that attend this school. What's more is that even if you did get rid of Ichika, his sister would never forgive you for taking away the only thing she has left, regardless of her position."

She gasped, not having thought of the consequences that would have followed that plan of action. While she would never directly harm her mentor, the emotional devastation would have ruined her not only as a pilot, but as a human being as well. Her eyes were downcast, having been bested by words once again. "Why..." she mumbled to herself. Arthur turned around, sensing her distress and spoke gently, "Because I too, have a family to consider. Much like Miss Orimura, I have a younger sibling that gives me the strength to be as strong as I can possibly be, if not stronger than that. I also have the pride of my family that I've carried on since the day I could fight." She looked up to him, her eye narrowed as she replied, "If that's true, then without that source, you would not be as strong?"

His eyes narrowed just as much, but smiled and replied, "If you're thinking what I believe you're thinking, then you're dead wrong. I've lost people in the past, those I've cared for deeply and even loved. Though they had all died, I was the one responsible for their deaths, with the exception of my parents. That was something I could do nothing about." "Your parents?" she asked, and he nodded sadly as he said, "It was ten years ago that they had died to ensure I had lived and ever since then, I've been trying to get stronger to make sure that never happens again. It hasn't worked all that well from time to time."

"My condolences." she said, and he shook his head as he replied, "It's all in the past now. I've come to terms with it and now I'm at peace. But, there's someone I've been hoping to meet again since that day. It's kinda strange, since I've only remembered her only recently." "Recently?" she asked, and he nodded. "Yeah, it had been not long after my parents died that my grandfather had taken me to France, to 'cheer me up' was what he told me when we arrived there. From there, I met a young girl and her mother while we were at a market. The young girl and I would play together, becoming fast friends during my brief time there. But it had only been a few weeks until the IS was announced, then after that came the Shirokishi incident was that I was forced to leave, never to return to France and her again."

"I see." said Laura, contemplating this new piece of information, looking away briefly before facing Arthur and asked,"Do you happen to know her name?" He leaned back and said, "Not really, but ever since those memories resurfaced, it's like I only saw her not too long ago..." Eye widening in realization, Laura exclaimed, "I have an idea." Arthur was slightly surprised as he responded, "What is it, Laura?" "It's the French boy, surely he must know of her." she said as she began to walk away. "That's right, I meant to talk to the guys at some point, though I suppose now's a good time to do so." Arthur said, walking behind her towards the door.

Leaving the room, the pair headed down the hall towards Ichika and Charles' room. "Maybe I should knock first, just to make sure to avoid hostilities. Is that alright, Laura?" Arthur asked and she nodded, allowing Arthur to walk in front of her to the door. Knocking on it lightly, Arthur spoke through the door, "Ichika, Charles. Are you in there? It's me, Arthur." When there was no response, he made for the door handle and opened it to see Ichika still in his school uniform. "Oh, hey Arthur. What can I do for you?" he asked, looking around and saw Laura standing off to the side.

"Um, what is she doing here?" he asked, having recalled the events earlier in the day, as well as his conversation with his sister. Arthur waved his hand and said, "It's alright, we've cleared some things up so you don't have anything to worry about right now. Isn't that right, Laura?" She looked at Arthur for a brief moment before nodding and replied, "I have no quarrel with you at this point in time. However, that doesn't mean I forgotten nor forgiven you for what you've done." Ichika slumped a little and said, "Of course you won't." "It's a work in progress, Ichika. Give her some time." Arthur said reassuringly.

"If you say so." replied Ichika, opening the door wide enough for the pair to enter the room. A quick thank you came from Arthur as they entered the room and looked around. Hearing the sound of water in the bathroom, Arthur asked, "Is Charles in the shower?" "Yeah. Which reminds me, can you hand the body soap to him? It should be in the closet." Ichika requested, with Arthur nodding and grabbed the bottle after having found it. Heading over to the door, Arthur knocked on it while speaking, "Hey Charles! Can you hear me? It's Arthur." No response was made and he continued, "Ichika wanted me to hand you this soap, since you ran out of the last one." Opening the door carefully, he walked in with the bottle in his other hand. Before he could get a foot in, he was immediately yanked into the bathroom with the door slamming shut.

This action alarmed Ichika, though he was the only one of the other people in the room at the time that had something to say about it,"What the hell was that!?" Laura had remained calm on her part and sat down on a bed, waiting until the pair exited the bathroom, which she estimated to be at least five to ten minutes. Ichika turned to Laura and asked, "Don't you find it strange that Charles would pull him into the bathroom?" She ignored him and continued waiting patiently, focusing only on finding out what possible weakness the Hackett boy had.

Meanwhile, Arthur had a brief thought in his mind as he tried to see through the hot mist from the shower that was turned off a few minutes ago. "What are you-" Arthur tried to say, but was silenced as a tender hand placed itself on his lips. Looking at it curiously, Arthur followed the hand down the smooth arm and the body it was attached to. Darkened blue eyes met purple as he reddened in the face when he remembered that Charles was a _she_. "It's good to see you again, Arthur." Her soft voice came out, though it struck a chord in him, as she lowered her hand down to cover her chest.

"Uh, it's nice to see you too..." he said, feeling rather uncomfortable at how close her naked body was to his fully clothed. She giggled a little before grabbing the bottle from his loosening hand and replied, "I wanted to send you a message before I arrived, but I didn't have the time to do so. Oh well." she sighed airily as she stood by while idly fiddling with the bottle. "I-i guess I'll see you later?" Arthur stuttered slightly, with an 'okay' from her and he reached for the door handle. _Still the same as ever, despite the whole charade she's put herself under._ Arthur thought before he heard a "Wait." he turned around and found a pair of lips placed on his cheek, making him turn bright red. After a few seconds, she moved away from his face while saying, "That was a gift long overdue."

"O-oh, I see." he continued to stutter as he left the bathroom. _I wonder why she did that...I figured she would have freaked out having me seen her naked, but she didn't mind at all._ Arthur thought as he closed the door behind him, but stopped as he saw Ichika standing right in front of him with an accusing stare. "Something wrong, Ichika?" he asked nervously, and Ichika said, "Yeah, something's wrong alright. You were in the bathroom for awhile now. Just what were the two of you doing?" "Oh, it's nothing at all. I uh, had trouble finding Charles with the hot water misting up the bathroom." Arthur lied, hoping Ichika was stupid enough to buy it.

"Then you should open the door to air it out then." Ichika said while shaking his head as Arthur internally sighed with relief. _That was too close._ Arthur thought as he began to walk away from the bathroom. "In fact, I'll go ahead and open it." Arthur froze and paled dramatically as he said, "No wait!" He was too late as Ichika opened the door to see Charles' naked _female_ body as she blinked at him for a moment before screaming and covering herself up. Ichika rapidly apologized as he slammed the door shut, his face burning up in embarrassment.

"You idiot! Why the hell would you open the door!?" Arthur shouted at him and he said in response, "Why didn't you tell me Charles was a girl!?" "For the very reason why you freaked out just now! I didn't expect you to just brazenly open the door, especially since Laura's still here!" Arthur argued back at him, gesturing towards her, who blinked owlishly and spoke to herself,_"T__he French boy is a girl?"_ "Anyway," Arthur said, calming down before continuing, "Now that the three of us know she is a girl, this could pose a serious problem for her." "How big?" Ichika asked curiously, and Laura answered, "_She could face serious criminal charges, __depending on the severity_."

Arthur said coldly, "And there's no way in hell I'm letting her taking the fall for the company her father owns. For now, we wait until she's done with the shower and let her say her piece." Both Ichika and Laura nodded in agreement, while Arthur leaned against the wall next to the sliding glass door. Some time had passed and the girl exited the bathroom wearing track clothing. The blond girl had noticed Laura was in the room after leaving the bathroom and thought, "_Huh? Why is Laura here? _" Her having suddenly realizing the fact that Arthur was here as well meant that Laura must have also known her secret. Awkward silence ensued until Ichika broke it by asking, "Does anyone want some tea?" Both of the girls replied, though Charles was the first to do so, "Uh, sure. Why not?" _"No thank you."_ Arthur had declined as well, but had asked for some water instead.

After the drinks were served, Arthur decided to start off for the whole group, "I've had some ideas of why, but could you explain the reason you were pretending to be a boy?" With a sigh of helplessness, she answered, "My family wanted me to do it." "Wait, you mean your family's company wanted you to do this?"asked Ichika, wanting clarification. "Oui. This whole plan was my father's direct order." she replied with a sad smile. Arthur shook his head and said, "Unbelievable." She looked at him and said, "To be perfectly honest, I'm not the child of his wife."

He chuckled ruefully and asked, "Illegitimacy?" She nodded as he swore underneath his breath as Ichika was confused by the reaction. Charles continued on sadly, "I had lived with my mama back in France at a very young age, though that was around the time I had first met Arthur." Ichika had a look of 'aha' on his face, while Laura's single eye widened slightly before resuming it's normal size. "It was until two years ago that some men from my papa's company came for me. That was when my mama had died." _"So he never contacted you at all while you stayed in France?"_ Laura asked Charles and she shook her head negatively. Arthur growled lowly at the reply, his rage boiling within himself, restrained by his well placed stoicism during this bit. "After that, they had scientists run tests on me and it turned out I had exceptional compatibility with the IS. So they made me an unofficial test pilot without anyone from the outside of the company knowing."

She then looked down and said, "I had only seen my papa only twice in the past and on both occasions we've only spoken no more than an hour. And then the Dunois Corporation saw financial difficulties." Ichika was perturbed by this fact and said, "Wait, I thought your company was the third in the world when it came to producing IS units." "While that is correct, the Revive is only a 2nd generation type. Right now, the other countries have already begun research on 3rd generation models." "Which makes sense, since Cecilia and Laura here," Arthur said while looking at her briefly and refocused on the group as a whole, "transferred to this school to obtain data for that research."

Laura added, "_While this may be true, I came here for personal reasons Arthur and I had already discussed earlier._" Arthur nodded and glanced at Ichika, who spoke, "But what does any of it have to do with you pretending to be a boy?" "It's simple. I'm just here to act as a form of distraction while I obtain data here in this school." Charles said, with Ichika supplying, "Like an ad?" She nodded while replying, "The company felt that I would have a better chance on obtaining data on both the Byakushiki and the Respite, as well as the pilots themselves. Simply put, I was only here to steal your data all the while pretending to be a boy named Charles."

Arthur sighed and asked, "Did at any point in time believe this was what you wanted, Charlotte?" She gasped and the others looked just as surprised as she was. "What?" she asked, and he knelt in front of her and asked, "Did you really want to steal our data to save your father's company?" She was unsure of what to say as Ichika gritted his teeth in anger and had voiced his concerns, "I can't stand the thought of any parent who would use their children as if they were cheap tools!" "Calm yourself, Ichika. What's happened has happened and there's nothing that we could have done to prevent this." Arthur said gently, and the boy stopped, but his anger had not fully subsided.

"My parents had abandoned my big sister and I as kids, but now I have no intentions of ever seeing them again." the Orimura boy had added while looking away in frustration. Arthur nodded solemnly as he said, "I understand you're angry, but you already knew my situation, so I don't feel the same as you do." "What do you mean, Arthur?" The now named Charlotte asked and he replied, "I never told you back then because I didn't want to be pitied or looked down upon. The thing is Charlotte, my parents died before I met you ten years ago. The Great Fuyuki Fire that took the lives of many people, my parents among them."

She looked at him in sadness, while Ichika said, "It must have been tough growing up, Arthur." He smiled and said, "It's fine, but there's something more important right now. So Charlotte, what will you do about this situation?" She had a look of mild confusion and asked, "What will I do? I guess the only thing there is to do is to return to my home country. If I am lucky, I'll end up in jail." "Well it looks like you won't need to go then." Arthur said while grinning. Ichika added, "Yeah, you can just stay here. Besides, even if your father or the company knew, there wouldn't have been a damn thing either of them could do while you're here in this school."

"_Ah, you must be referring to the school rule then?"_ Laura asked, as the boys both nodded with grins on their faces. "Yep. Grab the book Ichika." Arthur said, as he responded, "On it!" He began to rummage through one of the desk drawers and pulled out a small book and said, "Here it is, the IS Academy Manual." He turned a few pages and found the needed section. "It says here that '_All students attending the Academy are under its exclusive control and no country, organization or other groups can interfere with their attendance here.'_' " "So basically you have three years to have a fully formulated plan to deal with your father and the company. Sounds easy enough." Arthur said as Charlotte replied, "I can't believe you memorized that. There are fifty-five rules after all." "Well despite his looks, the knucklehead here does study hard." Arthur jokingly said, giving Ichika a rough pat on the back.

"Hey!" Ichika protested, as he glared with a look of exasperation before smiling a little. "Arthur, Ichika." the boys look back at Charlotte as she bent forward slightly as she said, "Thank you for covering for me." Noticing that her cleavage was showing, Ichika looked away as Arthur replied, "It's no problem at all. Besides, what kind of men would we be if we didn't help you out?" "R-right." Ichika agreed.

"Oh." Arthur widened his eyes slightly as the others looked at him curiously. "What's wrong, Arthur?" asked Charlotte as she had a look of concern. He shook his head and replied, "I just realized that none of us have eaten dinner yet. Should Ichika and I get some food for the four of us?" Before the girls could reply, a knock had sounded on the door and a voice called out, "Ichika, are you still awake? It's Cecilia." Arthur made a shushing motion, guiding Charlotte to her bed as Cecilia continued, "Are you feeling ill?" Realizing that her presence would compromise the situation at hand, Laura quickly dove under the bed where Charlotte had been tucked into. When there was no response from Ichika, she opened the door saying, "Ichika, I'm coming in."

As she walked in, she saw Arthur tucking in the blonde boy in the bed with Ichika standing off to the side looking sheepish. "Hey Cecilia." the latter spoke as the former glanced at her oddly. "Is everything alright?" she asked and Arthur said, "Unfortunately, it looks like Charles seemed to have come down with a cold of sorts, so we're looking after him." "Yeah, he's got quite the nasty cough too." Ichika added as Charles (Charlotte) agreed while coughing. "Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. Would it be alright if I borrowed Ichika?" she asked hesitantly. Arthur nodded as Charles said, "Go -cough- ahead."

Cecilia looked to Ichika and said, "It appears I haven't eaten tonight either. Would you care to dine with me?" "Well, uh." Ichika replied awkwardly and heard from Arthur, "I think that it's a good idea." He looked at the pair and asked, "Are you sure?" Arthur smiled and said, "It's fine. Say, while you're at it, can you get something for Charles to eat too? I'm sure he's quite hungry." "Well okay, if you insist." Ichika relented, walking with Cecilia out of the room. Once the door had closed, Arthur sighed in relief and said, "Okay, coast is clear."

Laura popped her head up as soon as he gave the word, standing up on both feet after a minute. Charlotte had lifted the covers off herself and moved to lean against the bed frame behind her. "That was too close. If Ce-" Arthur began to say, until his body stiffened and his vision began to distort. Brief flashes of grotesque images superimposed themselves in the room, with the girls vanishing and the sensation of despair flooded the ruinous guise. '_Shit. Shit! Not now, I don't want them here! _' "_**Aw, what's wrong Artie? Aren't you glad to see us again? **_" came a dark, malevolent voice. A voice so twisted and foul, it worsened the room's already abominable condition.

'_Not really._' Arthur thought, regaining his ability to move slightly, but was careful as to not strike against this false reality. Doing so would only make the girls think he was losing what's left of his tattered mind, no thanks in part to his gift.

_**- Normality (aka Ichika and Charlotte's room)-**_

Charlotte's eyes widened as Arthur just stood there, as if frozen in time, except that she could hear him talking to himself in a way that was not himself. "What's wrong Arthur?" she asked worriedly, getting up from her bed and hurried over to his still body. Once she was within arms reach of him, she called out to him once more, "Arthur, wake up! Say something, please!" Laura, despite not having any positive feelings towards the boy, was just as concerned, but maintained her distance just in case something went wrong. Part of her wondered what could have caused him to freeze in such a manner. For all parties involved, it was for the best that they didn't know...

_**-The Room of Frayed Planes-**_

"_**How cute. She's calling for you, Artie...**_" said the Voice, amused by the vain attempts to free Arthur from this grim world. '_Yeah, she is._' he replied, smiling softly as he looked to the dark form perched on the fragmented wall above him. The room had mostly vanished, replaced by hollow frames of rusted metal that gave way to the ever expanding lost world before his eyes. "_**You know it's pointless for her to help you, once I have regained full control of your body.**_"

Arthur replied shortly, "Some how I doubt that. There's no way she'd give up on me, nor would I willingly allow you to take what's already mine, Demon." The creature chuckled lowly before bellowing out full laughter as it spoke, "_**What's already yours? How trivial. Do you honestly think that your precious light will protect you from me forever? I think not.**_" It then jumped high from its perch, swooping down with elongated claws at the ready. "**_In fact, I think I'll take it now! _**" it shouted as it swung its deadly blades down upon Arthur. He braced himself for the impending attack, but it never came. In front of him stood an ethereal figure, basking in its own shining aura.

"_Are you alright? _" spoke the figure as it held it's brilliant blade against the Dark Figure's claws. "Fine as always, my friend, fine as always. Besides, I've got a little lady who needs me right now. So without further ado..." Arthur trailed off as they focused their attentions on the creature before them. The Demon struggled heavily against the blade, slowly pushing the white warrior backwards. "Oh no you don't!" Arthur said, summoning a pair of short swords and launched at its left flank, but was pushed back as well when the Demon swung its other set of claws with as much strength it could muster at that moment.

With an angry huff, Arthur slowed his reversed momentum to a grinding halt before launching on the offensive once more. This time, took advantage of the Demon's momentary inattentiveness and forcefully pushed it into Arthur's path. The boy then let loose a flurry of swings and strikes that caused the monster to be set on the defensive, blocking the swords as much as it could until it received a heavy blow from the White's sword, leaving a deep scar that emitted a bright white light from its body. It howled in pain, clutching at its wound frantically, glaring at the pair with insurmountable hatred in its hidden eyes as it rasped, "_**Damn you! Damn the Light you have! It won't last, not for long! **_" Its breath became more haggard, slowing down as the creature's strength dwindled away. Arthur rolled his shoulders a little, hefting his right blade behind his head, allowing it to gently rest without difficulty. His angelic ally, settled itself into a kneeling position, much like he had done in the past. With a hum, it spoke with a regal voice that echoed throughout the barren wasteland:

_I venture with sword and shield, _

_N__ever wavering in my steps, _

_F__or I am the __G__uardian __to__ the __Weak__, _

_S__avior to the __Helpless__, _

_P__urveyor __to the Starving. _

_My Light shall protect thee as it had for myself._

The monstrosity realized what would transpire, and quickly launched itself at the boy before its opposite could finished, all the while screaming, "_**NO! **_" Before it could harm Arthur, the brilliant light that once encased its mirror self, slowly faded away as streams of light flowed onto his body. As the blackened blades descended, they were quickly impeded by Arthur as he blocked the slash with both swords. With this new empowered strength, he launched his foe into a stone column, impacting it with a sizable crater before said pillar collapsed on top of it. As the creature was covered by the earthen material, Arthur spoke loudly, his voice level matching the ethereal being's own:

And to the those in Despair, I shall bring Hope.

To those who are Lost, I shall Guide.

To those who are Burdened, I shall Carry.

Let the Light grant me the strength to perform these miracles.

A loud explosion rocketed the debris outwardly in every direction, with both Arthur and his ally protecting themselves from the blast. A hideously blackened aura now surrounded the monster, its voice growling with anger, hatred, despair and any twisted form of the human emotion it could possibly mock with its presence. "_**YOU...**_" it spoke, trudging its way slowly to them, its opponent's raising their guards in wariness. "_**MINE...MINE...**_" It repeated endlessly as Arthur and the figure next to him spoke at once, allowing their combined presence to push back the ever growing darkness that began to encroach the mental landscape. This was their rite:

**_To Wickedness, I grant Punishment..._**

**_To Murder, I deny Absolution..._**

**_To Corruption, I deliver Damnation..._**

**_To Evil, I pass Judgment..._**

**_Thus I solemnly decree..._**

The creature lunged, its target within its reach, using all of its remaining strength to rend Arthur asunder. It was not meant to be, for Arthur had impaled his swords through the abomination's shoulders and the White Figure ran its sword into the monster's chest. The Dark Figure stopped breathing for a moment, as its opponent's gave one last phrase before it faded away into the sky above:

_**Heaven's Will**_

Arthur breathed deeply before picking up his swords, exhaling softly as he looked at the scenery changing before his eyes, the world becoming a vast white void once more. His companion turned to him, his being barely recognizable amongst the background, its expression unreadable. "_How much longer will you prolong this? Every time the Demon is vanquished, the Darkness revives it again to torment you. I cannot protect you if you are not willing to remove the Darkness itself."_ It spoke to him concernedly, with Arthur replying in annoyance, "It's not that I won't, it's more like I can't..." "_Go on._" it urged as gestured for its partner to continue.

He nodded and replied, "During the night of the fire, I had briefly felt something unbelievably horrendous that I couldn't even begin to comprehend what it was. But all I had seen then was some sort of mud-like substance that simply gave off this feeling like I had stared at Evil itself. It must have been that same substance that could have latched onto me prior to my rescue." "_This does not bode well, Arthur. Even with the power we currently have, it may not be enough to simply force the Darkness back, should its Avatar return once more..."_ It was then Arthur closed his eyes and asked, "And if the worst should come to pass?"

It bowed its head as it replied, "_We must to do what is necessary. Even if that means removing our very existence from the Earth. And to do so..." _"I must remove all traces of myself, including all memories of myself here, if it means that the Darkness cannot return." Arthur said sadly, having done so many a times in the past. "_There will be no turning back if you make that decision, you know this."_ Arthur nodded, looking down with a small frown.

"_Will you tell her? You've always made it a priority to be honest with her no matter what would happen, even if she ends up hating you for this._" It continued as Arthur walked away aimlessly. He stopped, his shoulders slowly began to shake, arms at his sides with tightened fists. "No." he whispered, nodding his head in agreement with his verbal answer. "I can't do that to her again. Not anymore..." He drifted off, looking back at his companion with anguish visible on his face.

"_I see. What you wish to do is your decision, Arthur. I will be at your side if you need me."_ The Figure disappeared into the void, leaving its ally as the sole occupant in his empty realm. Arthur turned away from his ally's point of departure and held a distant gaze as the world began to shift once more, one of solitude. The white surface below him peeling away to reveal a rocky landscape, the endless sky above darkening, becoming riddled with shining lights in the sky. But the brightest light came from a large moon, hanging above him like a lantern to guide his way.

_I'm sorry my love. No matter how many times I have tried, I couldn't save our world we tried so hard to build. And every time I had fallen, I left you in despair, driving you to the verge of madness and eventually death. And every time I returned, regardless of the point of origin, you would never remember what happened, thus furthering my own despair. I don't want you to suffer anymore. And when the next time comes. I will ensure that you can live a happier life without me...I-I-_ His thoughts broke as he collapsed, finally giving into his tightly controlled emotions that held onto for eons...and cried.

As if sensing his awakened despair, the world shattered...

_**-Reality Once More-**_

Charlotte's eyes widened as she saw Arthur's eyes grew hollow with a vacant stare, his body unable to move on its own. "Why won't you answer me!?" she half-shouted to the boy she cared for deeply, fearing that he may never break from his trance. To her surprise, however, it seemed as though he had. His arms slowly raising upwards, and she embraced him tightly. The arms then drooped down her shoulders as he mumbled incoherently. Looking back up at him, she saw his vacant eyes filled with water as it spilled down his cheeks, though the expression in his eyes had not changed.

"W-why are you crying?" she asked, her voice shaking, confused by his unusual responses. Then what she heard next, shook her down to her core, "_I'm sorry, my love._" It was then his body began to fall forward as he held her unknowingly. As the pair fell to the ground, Laura became alarmed at the sudden change of events. "Hey-" she said, moving to grab the boy before Charlotte interrupted, "Wait!" Laura stopped as she saw Arthur began to shake uncontrollably and heard something that would be the last thing to hear from him...his sounds of sorrow. He cried quietly as he kept repeating, "I'm sorry..."

This only served further confusion for Laura as she watched Charlotte's eyes soften and began to console him, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. After a few minutes, Arthur grew still, having finally stopped shaking and crying. With Charlotte nodding to Laura, the girls began to move Arthur onto her bed to allow him to rest. It was then that Ichika returned to the room, with a tray of food in his hands. Upon seeing the change in the room, he asked curiously, "Did I miss something?" The girls looked at each other quickly before looking at him and replied, "Oh no, it's nothing." "_None of your business, anyway."_

Chalking it up as to it being Arthur's fault, he shrugged and continued on with serving Charlotte her food as the trio began to talk as Arthur slept soundly, unaware of the words he had spoken earlier. _Why would he say that? Does that mean he really thinks of me in such a way? Ooh, why does he have to make me so flustered right now!?_ Charlotte thought, a faint line of pink adorning her face, unnoticed by Ichika and Laura. _Maybe I'll ask him in the morning..._

* * *

_**W҉̷A̴͘͘R̵̨NI̵̢N͜G̢͝!͝!̡͘!̧͡**_

_**̨̡͝**_

_**̨M͡em͘͠or͢y̢ ̶͞B͢an͏ḱ̨́ ̧D̕e͜͟ǵrad̢a͡t̢͜į̶̕o͡ņ̧͝ ̵̢̛a̵͟t̴̛ ̶1͘͠͏7͏͝%**_

_**͡͠Ĺ̶͟aún͜͝͡c̡͜͡h́i̕ņ̶͘g ̧͡B̴͝a̴c̡̢҉k̕u̷p̷̨ I͢n͘i̴̶͡t͠ì͜a̸̛l ͟͟͝P͜͞ŗ̛͢o̸t̨̛͡e͜͞c̷̛t̀͜͡i͞o͢n҉҉ ̛P̀r̵o͏t҉o̷̶͡c̕ols̨**_

_**҉҉͏**_

_**̕W҉͡ĄR̶N̡͞ING̛͘!́!̨!̷̴̨**_

_**͜**_

_**B̷́a̷c̴͠ķ̷̸up̶͝ ̧́P͘r͡ǫt҉̵͏o̡͘c̨͝o̷l̡͠ ̡͏F͏a̢͏i͠l̀u͢͟҉r̷͢e̵**_

_**҉**_

_**̛͜Có̴̀rr̀u͞p͡t̛̛́i͜ò̀n ̶a͘t̛ 1̷5̶̷̨%̕͘**_

_**̡̧͢**_

_**W͝4̧́R͜͟N1͟N̷͢6͡!̷̀!͘!̵̢**_

_**̢**_

_**́W͘4̨̧̕R̶̢̡-̀͝!͜͠!̵**_

_͢_

_**͜W͟͢͜3̸͢ ̀͏F̧̢͝3̷̸3͘͠D͘!҉!͝!**_

* * *

_08Dec13_

AN: Whew! Finally finished this chapter. To be honest, I've been hit with copious amounts of the deadly Writer's Block. I've had the idea of maintaining a run-along for canon, while placing something new into it. As you can see, things are not as they appear to be. What does this mean for Ichika and his friends? What will become of Arthur? Wait and see...

Until then,

_The Void bids thee farewell..._


End file.
